A new life
by HouseoftheBadger
Summary: Royalty AU. Little Remus Lupin lives on the beach of Peverell Island, the royal family of Gryffindor's summer place. The royal and the noble children don't seem as bad as people says... Years later the tension between the Great Nations is building up, and war is threatening. Things have to be done to ensure the future of their kingdom.
1. Chapter I: The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I own no characters or names.**

7-years-old Remus John Lupin was alone, and a little scared. He wouldn't be alone for too long, of course, his parents would come home later, hopefully with a bit food for him if they had succeeded to earn some money, but for now he was on his own. He was a little bit scared because the royal family was visiting Peverell Island, where he lived, as they did every summer and there was guards patrolling the entire island to ensure their safety. It was the first time he was all on his own when the island was filled with soldiers. Soldiers had weapons, and weapons could kill. He was a nice boy, he knew that, and even though the Lupin family was really poor they never stole to get food (except once when Hope had been very sick and had needed it to survive) so there wasn't really any reason why they would use the weapons on him, but he was still scared. He had heard stories about how soldiers could be really mean and steal from poor people and hurt them if they didn't do what they wanted. Remus knew that if the soldiers stole from his family, they would starve.

It was in the middle of the summer and it was hot inside the Lupins' shack. They lived close to the beach so he could hear the ocean call on him, locking him with the wonderful cold water. He _was_ allowed to be outside on his own, Remus told himself. Mum and dad had wanted him inside now because of the royalties, but why would they be on their beach? It was a very small one that no one who wasn't from Peverell Island knew of.

Yes, he decided. He would go out and bath a little. If he was lucky he might find some lobsters or fish that have been flushed into the beach and they would have supper for sure.

* * *

Following the path down to the beach he marvelled in the beauty of where he lived. The shack was small, dark and not very nice, but it was placed on one of the most beautiful places in the world, if you asked Remus. Of course, he hadn't seen anything which wasn't on the island and probably never would, but he knew that there could be no prettier place than here either way. In a tree he saw a bird's nest. Maybe he could climb up and take some eggs? He didn't like to steal the bird's children, it felt wrong, but he was so hungry too. He had gotten some old bread and milk to breakfast but hadn't eaten since then and that was hours ago and he had told his parents he wasn't hungry during supper yesterday so they would eat a little too.

Suddenly his nose caught a wonderful smell. Unconsciously he walked away from the path, following it. It smelled of delicious food. He reached the edge of the beach and heard laughing voices. He didn't recognize them, only knew it was three boys, and he knew everyone on the island – it wasn't very big.

"Sirius! Give me my raspberries!" One of the voices said, laughing, and was replied with more laughter.  
" _Never!_ I will be the king of raspberries!" another voice said. Remus heard footsteps coming closer. He watched around for somewhere to hide. If he didn't knew them they must be a part of the royalties' assembly and then they couldn't see him! He wasn't allowed even close to them, no one of the commoners was if they didn't come to them first.

Remus hurried in behind one of the bushes, hoping they would leave soon, or walk past him. The delicious smell grew closer and he looked through the bush a bit and saw that it came from a picnic basket that a woman who followed the boys held. Except the boys and the woman two guards also was there, in armours with the emblem of the kingdom of Gryffindor and the royal family: a roaring lion. It looked very hot. He gasped in fright. What if they found him hiding there?

To his dismay the boys stopped right in front of the bush.  
"Here is good." One of the boys with black hair said. He also had rectangular glasses. Glasses were extremely expensive, and Remus had only seen one more person have them; the mayor's wife, Madame Hooch, so these people must be rich. But if the glasses hadn't been proof enough the lady behind them soon began to pick up food from the basket, and Remus couldn't help but ogle it hungrily. He had never seen so much food in his whole life except in the slaughterer's.

* * *

The three boys began to eat and laugh with each other and Remus soon learned that the boy with shoulder-long, black hair and mostly purple clothes was named Sirius, the boy with blonde-brown hair and mostly blue clothes was named Peter and the one with messy black hair and glasses and mostly red and gold clothes was named James. They laughed and threw food at each other like food was nothing and those expensive clothes weren't something that would be taken care of. It almost hurt Remus physically to see how they wasted food like that. But on the other hand, maybe he could take some when they left. He only needed to wash away the sand from it. At the thought his stomach rumbled. His green eyes widened and he immediately put his arms over his belly as to try to stop the sound from reaching them, and when he did that he made the bush rustle too.

The three boys immediately stopped play and looked over toward the bush, and the guards held out their spears toward him. Remus swallowed in fear, sure that his last moment now had come. His parents would never get to know what had happened to him.

"Who's there?" One of the guards demanded to know. He had a very deep voice. "Show yourself, or we will force you!"  
With flacking eyes Remus forced himself to stand up and he stepped out from behind the bush, shaking in fear. His eyes flickered over the boys – probably nobles – and the lady before they landed at the guards and their spears.  
"Pl-please! I-I haven't done anything!" Remus stammered. "I-I just watched, I didn't do anything!"  
The boys stared at him in confusion before realization seemed to dawn the black-haired boys. James raised his hand and looked at the guards.  
"Lower your weapons." He said, sounding very authoritative. The guards glanced at each other before they looked at James.  
"But, your highness…" one of them protested but Sirius stood up and glared at them.  
"Didn't you hear what the prince said?" _Prince?_ Remus thought, panicking. "Lower your weapons. It's an order." He demanded, with a tone that not would accept any objections. It was extremely strange to hear it from someone his age, Remus thought. He had only ever heard it from Monsieur Hooch and his mother.

After a moment the guards obeyed and held their weapons like earlier, with the tip against the blue sky. The black-haired boys stood up and looked expectantly at the last boy, Peter, who also stood up a moment later. They walked toward Remus, and first now he realized they, just like him, didn't wear any shoes. He wondered why, seeing as they obviously had money enough to own many pairs of shoes.  
Reflexively Remus took a step backward. Most people in the village liked him ("those Lupins, so honest even though they have it so hard"), and most children too, but the 'rich' kids (even though they were poor in comparison to these boys) didn't really do that so mostly nice clothes meant trouble for him.

Then he swallowed and decided that he would meet his destiny as a brave boy, so his parents wouldn't be ashamed of him. At least he would probably not be killed, seeing as the guards didn't have their spears in his direction anymore.

To his great shock the boy with glasses stretched out his hand toward him, like he wanted Remus to shake it.  
"Hi! I'm James. This is Sirius, and Peter." James said, stretching out his hand a little more. Hesitantly Remus took it, his upbringing setting in. As his parents always said, "being poor doesn't mean you can have poor manners".  
"Hi…" Remus answered wearily. "…Your highness." He added, but to his surprise James grimaced.  
"No thank you. Call me James, please." He said. Remus frowned but nodded, feeling a little more calm now.  
"James." He said, tasting it. He had never known a James before, it was one of those names only important people had. "My name is Remus Lupin."

In that exact moment his stomach rumbled again as he took another breath of the delicious smelling air. He wanted food so badly, but he was used to being hungry. What he _wasn't_ used to was being hungry when he was surrounded by food. Sirius grinned when Remus blushed slightly.  
"Hungry?" he asked and Remus nodded, feeling like he should answer this boy. If adults did as he said then he probably was supposed to too. "Do you want to have picnic with us? We have food enough."

Remus stared at him in astonishment. Were these boys really offering to share that food with him? Wasn't royalty and nobility meant to be bad? Everything he had heard about people with power had been bad. The count of Peverell Island, who practically owned the place, was not a nice man from what he had heard. Lord McLaggen made life hard for the people on the island and was a quite big part in why the Lupins was so poor – and the lord's son, Douglas, was a real bully. And now these boys, royalty and nobility from the _capital,_ from _Gryffindale_ , offered him to have a picnic?

It seemed like the three boys saw his amazement because they looked amused, and then James grabbed his arm and dragged him to the plaid where the food was. The lady looked like she wanted to protest but Peter waved his hand and she closed her mouth and didn't say anything.  
"Well, Remus, it's nice to meet you!" James said with a grin. "This is Sarah, one of my mother's maids."  
Remus greeted politely but couldn't help but gaze at the food. It seemed like Peter noticed because he grabbed a plate and laid some bread with jam, fruit and cookies on it and handed it to Remus before taking some himself and began to eat.

"Come on, eat!" James urged him on when he saw that Remus hesitated. Remus gave them one last hesitant look before grabbing the bread and ate it quickly. Within a few minutes his plate was clean except the cookies. He saw the people from Gryffindale stare at him and he blushed again, staring down on his hands.  
"S-Sorry." He apologized, embarrassed. "I haven't eaten in a while."  
"What?" Sirius asked, surprised. "Why?"  
Remus looked up and stared in confusion on the boys' faces. They really looked like they didn't understood why he hadn't eaten. But that was ridiculous. Obviously they must know why, right?  
"Because we haven't had food, of course." He replied, frowning. "Not much, at least."

"Why?" Sirius asked again, he too frowning. Remus was amazed. These people, rich people with a lot of education that he never would get, knew less about the country they lived in than he did it seemed. Did they really not know that there were people who hadn't enough money for food? Did the king and queen know, then? He knew Lord McLaggen did, but he lived here in the village so that was different. Maybe no one in the capital was poor.  
"Because food isn't cheap." Remus explained. "We don't have money, and we don't own any fields where we can grow our own food. Many villagers gives us the food they don't need, but they're poor too so they can't give much."  
"So… what you're saying is that you don't get to eat?" James said slowly. Remus shook his head.  
"I eat. I'm alive, aren't I? Mum and dad gives me everything they can, but sometimes I refuse to eat so they will too. But there's some people that don't. My grandma died because she gave all her food to me. It was when I was too small to know that she had to eat too."

James and Sirius looked shocked, but Remus realized Peter didn't. Maybe Peter had known. James seemed to realize this too and looked at his friend, asking if he knew about this.  
"Yes." Peter answered. "There's poor people in Aleria. In Gryffindale and Grimmauld too. Especially in Grimmauld. Sirius, haven't you seen your own estate?"  
Sirius looked ashamed.  
"I suppose I haven't noticed."

* * *

Remus felt this was beginning to get a little too deep for his liking, but he didn't dare to say something, so instead he took a bite from the cookie. His pupils widened. Chocolate. He had eaten chocolate once before, on his last Christmas, and it had been delicious. But it was extremely expensive and Hope and Lyall had saved money for months to be able to give him a few bits of chocolate. It was something he had never thought he would have again, seeing that they lived hand-to-mouth. But even though they did, he did have a few nice things, even a book, because his parents saved every coin they could to give him everything they could. Remus moaned quietly, enjoying every bit of the marvellous taste.

The three other boys smirked when they saw Remus' almost blessed expression and dropped the subject of poorness. They began to chatter and made sure that Remus ate everything he could, and Remus only smiled and felt incredibly grateful. When they finished the food he felt full for the first time in his life. By this time he too was dragged into the conversation and was talking with the other three boys like they had known each other forever, and had completely forgotten about the guards, Sarah, and the fact that they was located at completely different places in the hierarchy.

As soon as they could move again they began to play, and it wasn't before the sun began to fall closer to the ocean Remus realized he had to go home. His parents should be home by now. When he told his new friends, because he thought that was what they were, friends, Peter immediately ordered Sarah to give him the rest of the food. Remus tried to say no first, he thought they had done enough for him already, but they refused to take no for an answer. With a grateful smile he took the basket with the food, which still was heavy of the food inside, and thanked them.  
"It's nothing. We've got lots more." James assured him. "Do you want to play with us again tomorrow?"  
"Of course!" Remus exclaimed. It was ages since he had had this much fun.  
"Great!" Sirius said happily. "Where do you live?"  
Remus pointed toward the hill next to the beach.  
"Next to Nundu Hill over there. A small shack. But now I gotta go. Mum and dad are probably home by now."

They said goodbye and Remus took the basket and left. He hurried home, knowing that his parents would be worried. He hadn't meant to be away for so long, it just had been so fun and the time had flown away.

* * *

When he walked in through the old door two relieved cries reached him.  
"Remus!" and within seconds he was embraced by two sets of arms. He hugged back, feeling very ashamed of having made his parents so worried.  
"Were have you been? We've been so afraid! What is this?" Lyall added when he saw the basket Remus was carrying. Remus smiled slightly.  
"I'm sorry. I forgot the time. I made some new friends!" he exclaimed, unable to hide his excitement. New friends was very rare on the island seeing as everybody already knew everybody.  
"New friends?" Hope asked with a smile, less worried but still upset over coming home with no Remus there even though they said he would stay at home, and then no Remus for hours. Remus nodded eagerly, almost jumping up and down. He was so filled with energy after all that food.  
"Yes! Their name's James and Sirius and Peter! They had a picnic and they invited me when they found me! Oh, and James' the prince." He added with afterthought, thinking his parents might want to know. "They gave me the basket, it's filled with food. Even some meat! And chocolate!"

Hope and Lyall froze.  
"Th-the _prince_?" Lyall asked and Remus nodded. He understood his parents' reactions, seeing how afraid he had been.  
"Yes and Sirius is marquis of Grimmauld and Peter's going to be count of Aleria. I don't know what these places is but… They're really nice! I was scared first, but they invited me to their picnic and I got to eat as much as I wanted and then we played and then I realized it was sunset so I had to go home. But they want to play tomorrow again! Can I show them my things?"

Lyall and Hope glanced at each other. They wanted to say yes, it was a long time since they saw their son this happy and all of them needed all happiness they could get, and if Remus had been allowed to eat it could be nothing but really good, but still, it was the _prince_ and the lords' sons. Royalty. Their only experience with nobility was when Lord McLaggen's tax collector came. On the other hand… it might be a possibility to give Remus a better life. They wanted their only child to have a life where he didn't have to count every single coin and only could hope that he would get to eat this night. Perhaps these new friends of his could give him that. In the end they nodded.  
"Yes, Remus. You can."  
Remus' smile lightened up the dark shack and Hope and Lyall couldn't help but smile too. His happiness meant everything for them. If he was happy with these new friends, then they couldn't keep him away from them.

* * *

Next day Hope and Lyall stayed at home. They wanted to meet these boys, to know if they were good for their son. Remus was just happy to have them with him. It wasn't very often he got to have them at home a whole day, because they had to work, and he was too young to go with them on many things because it would be dangerous for a child. They ate some of the bread and even a little ham to breakfast, and it was completely different to the old grain bread they usually ate. It felt almost celestial to eat it for all of them.

Suddenly voices was heard from outside the thin door.  
"Do you think it's here?"  
"It should be, it's the only house next to this hill."  
"But can someone really live like this? It's so small!"  
"Come on, knock. If it's wrong, then we'll have someone find the right house."

Remus smiled and jumped up from the floor where he had been sitting, playing with some spruce cone animals he and his parents had made. He opened the door and grinned as he saw the boys outside.  
"James! Sirius! Peter!"  
They grinned back.  
"Remus!"  
Behind them two guards was standing, like yesterday. Remus guessed they always had guards with them. He would ask later. He let them in and they stared around in astonishment. Remus shrugged. He had had people at home before and most had reacted like this seeing as most people on Peverell Island lived better than them, and since these boys probably lived in castles he supposed his shack was extremely small for them. But it was home.

Remus introduced his friends for his parents, who couldn't help but stare at the three well-dressed boys (their colourful clothes were an extreme contrast to the dark shack and the brown, worn and patched clothes of the Lupins) but they didn't seem to mind. Probably they were used to being stared at. But it went smoothly and then Remus eagerly began to show his things for his new friends, and his most treasured possession: his only book, _the Tales of Beedle the Bard_. He and his parents had read it so many times that it would've been in bits by now if they hadn't taken so careful care of it. It was the most expensive thing the Lupins owned so it wasn't something they would risk to destroy. It had been a gift from the village's doctor's wife, Mrs Ramsey, when Hope had been deathly sick and Remus had got it to get his mind of things.

The three nobles had quickly realized that for Remus, all those things, the book, the stuffed wolf, the lion of tree, were real treasures and acted thenceforth. Hope and Lyall smiled widely. They knew these boys had things that was worth more than everything they owned, and still they did everything to not making Remus feel less worth or that his things weren't as nice as theirs. It mean the world to them. Maybe there was hope for the ruler class after all.

* * *

After a few hours, when Remus had taught the other boys how to make spruce cone animals and plait wreaths it knocked on the door. Hope got up to open and gasped in shock when she saw that a man in red and golden clothes (though paler than James') stood there with a solemn look on his face.  
The boys looked over and the three nobles sighed.  
"Good day, Lord Codnor." James said formally as he stood up and made a low bow, and so did the other two even if theirs was a little deeper. The man – Lord Codnor apparently – bowed back, deeply.  
"Good day, your highness, milords." He replied smoothly. Neither his voice nor face did say anything about his mood. It was almost a bit spooky if you asked Remus. "Their royal majesties requests your presence."

"Of course, milord." James answered. Remus and his parents on the other hand froze. All of them felt horrified. _The king and queen wanted to meet them?_ It was one thing with James, Sirius and Peter, they were children, but the king and queen were their rulers, the most powerful people in the country and two of the most powerful people in the world since Gryffindor was one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world together with Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hogwarts. "We will come directly."

James turned back to the Lupins.  
"Seems like mother and father wants to meet you. I guess we shouldn't be surprised, they want to make sure we don't meet the wrong kind of people – people who could hurt us and such. That's why we always have guards with us. They will be there until we've learnt how to defend ourselves. Both Sirius and I are great with the swords, but apparently not good enough."

"You needn't worry." Sirius said. "Their majesties are very kind. They'll love you, Remy."  
Remus wasn't sure if he liked his nickname, but he liked his new friends too much to say anything. He nodded uncertainly. The three nobles just told the Lupins what they were supposed to do and then they went with Lord Codnor. It wasn't long to the village, only a mile, but there was a few horses waiting outside. Remus had only seen a horse close twice, when he was with his parents when they had a job in the count's stables a short time, and was a little intimidated. The nobles easily swung upon the horses, which actually were ponies to match the size of the riders, and looked at the Lupins, waiting.

In the end Remus rode on the same horse as his father. Both his parents had at least ridden a little before – they could a lot of things a little bit seeing as they took every job they could – and they made their way toward the village.  
Remus felt the villagers' stares as he came there, on a _horse_ , together with people who so obviously came from the royalties' assembly. He both felt amused and uncomfortable. They arrived to the Royal Family's summer castle, which were untouched the whole winter except for the people who cleaned it and the gardener's family. He had been close to it before, during the winter, but it didn't have half its beauty during the winter months. Now it was life everywhere, servants and animals, people in beautiful clothes hurrying here and there or just walking, flowers and fountains. It was a wonderful sight. But the thing that caught Remus' attention the most was one part of the castle garden where there was a lot of playthings. Swings and slides and trees to climb. It looked so funny.

When they climbed down from the horse some stable boys immediately came to fetch them. Two of them were friends of Remus' who stared at him. He waved awkwardly.  
"Hi." He said. They weren't awfully close friends, he didn't have any of those, but he played with these boys regularly, even if he didn't think they would miss him very much if he disappeared. Probably would only his parents do. James, Sirius and Peter looked questioning and he gestured to the stable boys.  
"I know them. James, Sirius, Peter, this is Jeremiah and Kyle. Jemmy, Kyle, this is James, Sirius and Peter."  
They both bowed and Sirius nodded in return.  
"We've met them. They made our horses ready this morning." He didn't sound very interested and didn't answer on their "Good day, milords, your highness. And Remus, Mr Lupin, Mrs Lupin.". Actually, only James did and only with a nod. Remus was confused, but decided not to care. He and his parents followed them when they began to walk away.  
"Gotta go! See ya'!" he called and they waved hesitantly back when he disappeared.

* * *

They followed the nobles through the castle's hallways, staring at everything. They had never seen so much expensive things. Remus felt very much out of place in his old clothes. He had fit better in the stables with the other village boys. All the servants in here had uniforms or nicer clothes than he had at least. Remus wasn't ashamed that they were poor, and he was proud over his parents who worked so hard, but it was hard not to feel small in here. Especially as the three nobles, as soon as they came in public, seemed to float into a role of the persons Remus had imagined nobles to be, at least in behaviour even if they still was nicer than he had thought.

They looked so incredibly important and Remus knew he looked dishevelled with his worn clothes and quite dirty hair, and the same applied on his parents who was even dirtier because of all the hard work they did. They tried to keep themselves clean but it was hard when you lived like they did. Soon they walked through some oak doors that was opened by two guards and as soon as they closed Remus realized Lord Codnor wasn't with them anymore, and the three nobles looked much more relaxed in here.

The room had scarlet walls filled with portraits with golden frames, and the furniture was extremely elegant even though it seemed more comfortable than the rest of the castle's.  
"Welcome to our quarters." Peter said with a smile. Remus' eyes widened. Did they live here? James smiled at Remus' gaze.  
"Yes. This is our common room. Then we've got our own personal rooms too. At home we have our own quarters of course, but this castle is too small for that. Well, at my home. When we're in Aleria or Grimmauld I and the other guest sleeps in guest rooms or in a few occasions, in each other's' rooms."

The nonchalance he said it with was incredible. This only room was bigger than Remus' whole house. Shack. Sirius seemed to notice Remus' reaction and raised his hands.  
"Remus, don't believe we didn't like your home just because we lives in castles. At least at your home you can go a whole day without anyone coming in and tell you that you have to do something. Well, at James' you can that too sometimes, but both Peter's and my parents – especially mine – tries to have us study or meeting diplomats all day."

Remus nodded slowly. He would've loved to be able to study all day – an education was his biggest dream, which he never would reach since it cost too much, but meeting diplomats sounded boring. James clapped his hands and a man in uniform came in and bowed.  
"Your highness?" he asked.  
"Please take out some clothes to Remus and his parents, Nathan." He ordered and the man nodded and left. "That's my manservant." James explained for the Lupins. "He's nice, but extremely boring."

Soon Nathan returned and gave clothes to the Lupins. Remus had never felt cloth that soft, and he had never ever had coloured clothes since it was expensive to colour fabric. Nathan showed Hope and Lyall where they could change and soon the Lupins all had new clothes and a maid came in and brushed Remus' hair – they didn't have time to wash it. He was overwhelmed and wasn't sure what to say, actually. The nobles grinned and began to ask Remus about the myth about merpeople in the ocean outside Peverell Island and Remus soon forgot the alien feeling of high-quality fabric.

* * *

After a while it knocked on the door.  
"Come in!" Sirius called and the doors was opened. Outside two people stood, a man and a woman, in expensive jewellery and the man looked a lot like James in hair and face meanwhile the woman had James' brown eyes. It wasn't hard to understand that this was King Fleamont I and Queen Euphemia of Gryffindor even though they didn't wear any crowns. Especially as everyone in the room, including James, got on their feet and bowed or curtsied. Remus hurried to do the same even though it felt awkward. He had never been taught how to bow so it probably looked strange.

They both smiled when they walked in and waved to everyone to stand up again. Remus felt relieved as he did so.  
"Mother, father." James greeted, smiling.  
"James." They nodded and smiled back. "This is your new friend?" they looked at Remus who unconsciously took a step backwards. Even if James was very nice he had lived his whole life in fear of the only nobility on the island and it wasn't hard to forget. James nodded.  
"Yes. This is Remus Lupin, and his parents, Hope and Lyall Lupin."  
"A pleasure." The queen said and reached out her hand to Remus. After a moment hesitation he took it and did as Sirius had told him earlier, bowed and kissed it. It was extremely strange, but the queen didn't seem to mind his ineptitude.  
"Ditto, your majesty." He said, hoping he did alright. He glanced up at the queen who still smiled. She did look kind, like Sirius had said before. But then why did she allow Lord McLaggen to terrorize the village?

He greeted the king too and they greeted his parents before they sat down in the red coach in the middle of the room. The royal couple asked them a couple of questions but otherwise they most listened and seemed to be quite interested in Remus, which Remus never had expected from such important people.

Two hours later they left to go home, but was allowed to keep the beautiful clothes and got back their own, washed. None of the Lupins wanted to accept it, those clothes cost more than they earned during a whole year, but finally King Fleamont ordered them to take them.  
"Th-thank you, your majesty." Hope stammered, in shock.  
"You're welcome, Mrs Lupin." The king replied with a kind smile. "Have a nice evening."

* * *

The rest of the summer Remus played with James, Sirius and Peter almost every day. He had never had so much fun and thought the three nobles were much better friends than he had ever had. He felt closer to them than the people he had known his whole life and who was much closer to him in status. After the first week Remus even stopped worrying about the people around him and that they would think he was insolent who dared to call the prince and the lords by first name and only had fun. And for the first time in his whole life, the Lupins didn't go hungry. Of course they didn't eat as much as not poor people, but they had enough to even feel full sometimes. It was a miracle and Remus enjoyed every second of it. Sometimes he had tried to get his old friends in it, but they were nervous around the nobles and the nobles didn't seem very interested. They learnt their names but not more. Also, by now Remus was sure that he knew more of the summer castle than anyone else on the island. His favourite part of the summer was his encounter with Douglas McLaggen. Douglas had been horrible against him as usual but then James, Sirius and Peter had come out and threatened to have him whipped if he ever hurt Remus again, with words or physically. It was a bit harsh if you asked Remus, but it was really funny to see Douglas stammering trying to excuse himself.

But much faster than Remus would've wished the summer ended and it was only a few days until his friends would go home again. Almost worse, now they were used to eating but his parents still hadn't got jobs so even though they had money saved, for the first time ever, they would have to get used to being hungry again. Before it hadn't been a problem because they were always hungry and Remus hadn't even known how it felt to be full, but now he knew and he feared the hunger. Two nights before James, Sirius and Peter would leave he cried himself to sleep meanwhile his parents in vain tried to calm him down. He cried because he didn't want to be hungry again, and he would miss his friends. He had never ever felt like he belonged in the same way as he did with them, which again was extremely strange since they by all logic didn't belong together since he was a poor commoner and they were toward the richest and most powerful people in the world.

* * *

The next day, the day before they should leave, three very excited boys came down to the Lupins' shack and walked right in, as they had got used to during the past weeks. Remus was helping his mother clean meanwhile Lyall was down in the forest to cut wood for the smith. Remus was just cleaning out the ashes of the wood stove as they ran in. All of them looked startled as they saw him, seeing as he and his clothes was entirely black because of the ashes.  
"Whoa." Peter exclaimed, not really knowing what to say. Remus looked up and smiled when he saw them, even if his smile wasn't as big as usual.  
"Hello." He greeted. "If you can just wait some moments so I can finish, and then I think I can go. Can I, mum?"  
Hope smiled, she was changing the sheets in the only bed in the room (Hope and Lyall's. Remus slept in the coach) and nodded in answer.  
"Sure. Just clean yourself first. You're sooty."

The three nobles looked at each other, unsure, before turning to Hope.  
"Eumm… Mrs Lupin, do you want help or something?" James asked unsure. He had no idea how you cleaned, but it felt selfish to just stand here doing nothing meanwhile Remus was cleaning. They weren't sure why they felt like that, because they didn't even think about it when it was the servants in the castle, but they did. Hope smiled again and shook her head.  
"No thank you, your highness. It's fine."

After around fifteen minutes Remus finished cleaning the stove, grabbed his other set of clothes and took his friends with him down to the ocean to bath off the ashes. They quickly took off their clothes and the usual guards stood a bit away since they by now had accepted that none of the Lupins was dangerous for the prince or the young lords before the boys ran into the water and began to play. Soon Remus was clean, even though it took a while to get away the ashes from his hair, and they walked up on the beach again, exhausted but happy.

They dressed again, Remus in his other pair of shirt and trousers, and sat down in the sand, gasping for their breaths. After a minute James sat up.  
"We're going home tomorrow, you know?" he asked, and Remus nodded sadly and dragged his fingers through his wet hair.  
"I know. I'm going to miss you. I've never had so much fun as I had this summer."  
The three other boys looked happy when he said this and smiled. James grinned.  
"What if you didn't have to?" he asked. "Your parents still haven't got jobs, right?"  
Remus shook his head. It was a real problem. They had managed this long, but as he grew he would need more food and new clothes. He had very bad conscience about the burden he was for his parents, even if he knew it wasn't his fault. But what did James mean with 'didn't have to'?

"Mother and father said that your parents seemed very trustworthy, and they had people to talk with the villagers. They're willing to give them jobs as their personal servants! You could come with us, and live in my castle! But if you don't want to, we understand." He hurried to add. "I mean, it's beautiful here and this is your home, so…"  
Remus was speechless. They offered that he and his parents could go with them, leave Peverell Island, move to _Gryffindale_ and get real job as _personal servants to royalty?_ He loved the island, he had never known anywhere else, but…  
"I-I…" Remus stammered, not sure what to say. "I need to talk to mum and dad."

His friends nodded and Remus picked up his clothes and ran back up to the shack. During this time Lyall had come home and was now helping Hope to sweep the floor. They took one look at their bewildered son before hurrying toward him.  
"Is everything okay?" Hope immediately asked and Remus swallowed, still trying to overcome his shock. He threw his sooty clothes in a pile next to the door before looking at his parents.  
"James said that their majesties has offered you a job their servants in the castle in Gryffindale." He said in one breath, thinking that that was the only way to get it all out.

Hope and Lyall gaped, staring at their son.  
Finally they caught themselves and looked at Remus.  
"Do you want to?" Lyall asked carefully. Remus looked upset, but something glittered in his eyes. It was hard to say whether he thought this was good or not. Remus swallowed once before taking a deep breath and looking at his parents.  
"I think so. I would miss them very much otherwise, and you having permanent jobs would be great, but I'm scared. I have never been elsewhere and going to the capital and the _royal castle_ is scary."  
Hope bowed down and hugged her son and Lyall put a hand on his shoulder with an understanding smile.  
"I know. But I think we should go. Maybe we could get enough money to send you to school, if it isn't is too expensive in Gryffindale."

Remus gasped, his green eyes sparkling when he looked up at his father with hope in his eyes.  
"Do you really think so?"  
Lyall nodded.  
"We'll do our best. I promise."  
"Then we'll go! Please!" Remus exclaimed, jumping up and down. His parents laughed and nodded, sending him down to the beach to tell his friends that they'll do it.

James, Sirius and Peter got very excited and they happily began to chatter about everything they would show him before they left to go back to the castle and tell their parents. Remus went back to the shack to pack his few belongings and help his parents pack and say goodbye to all his friends and the villagers.

* * *

The next day two servants came down to them to escort them to the harbour. They didn't have much things, Remus had one bag with his other sets of clothes and those he had gotten the first time he met the king and queen, his few toys, his book and some other things, like beautiful stones and such. Lyall and Hope carried three bags with everything they would have with them, but everything else they had left since they couldn't take the stove and the chairs with them. On the ship they got new clothes since they couldn't go around in rags if they were going to be a part of the court, even if they only was servants. And one of the prince's best friends.

The journey with ship was very exciting if you asked Remus and his curiosity wasn't a problem because James and Sirius were just as curious about the ship and he could follow them around when they asked the sailors how everything worked. Apparently they both loved the sea and would've wanted to be sailors if they already hadn't had their futures chosen for them as king and duke.

The journey took three days and during this time Remus didn't see much of his parents. He shared a cabin with them, but they had sleepover in James' cabin one of the nights, and the boys ate breakfast and lunch together. It was only during dinner he had time for them, it was so much new to see and do. It was strange for them all, seeing that earlier had Remus been with them every second they were free from work, but Hope and Lyall only enjoyed seeing their child so happy, so glowing, where he ran around and climbed on the ship with his three friends. He also had got to know the king and queen a little during this summer and he liked them very much. They were kind and had good humour, and it seemed like James had inherited his mischievous ways from his mother. Remus felt a little sad as Peverell Island disappeared, he had lived there all his life after all, but mostly he felt excited over everything that would come. He would live in the same _castle_ as James, and Sirius and Peter would visit, and he wouldn't have to worry about food anymore, and maybe, just maybe, would he get to go to school – something he hardly had dared to dream of earlier. It all seemed too good to be true, but it wasn't. It actually happened!

* * *

When Gryffindale, which was a port town, came into sight Remus was caught in the prow, staring at the sight, and so was his parents. The royal family, Sirius and Peter joined them.  
"It sure is a beautiful sight, isn't it?" King Fleamont asked and all Remus could do was nod. The gigantic castle rose over the city, its tower sprouting toward the sky. James pointed toward one of the towers.  
"There's my quarters. In the highest tower. It's called Gryffindor Tower, since it's where 'the kingdom's future is resting' which mean's me, the heir of the throne." He grimaced. Remus giggled a little, it sounded quite funny, and James grinned toward him.

* * *

Three months later Remus is sitting in James' study reading one of his books about history. Sirius and Peter is visiting, but all of them are on their lessons and Remus has already finished the little work he does – cleaning up James' toys and sorting his notes about different things (he will get more as he gets older) – and have nothing to do, so he takes the moment of loneliness to study a little. He still hasn't got the opportunity to attend a school, but hopefully he will be able to soon. Only that except the fee for attending he also needs at least two uniforms, books, pens, notebooks, ink, quills and more and books is very expensive even if they're cheaper here in Gryffindale than on Peverell Island.

Remus was just reading about the last Great War between the five great nations when James, Sirius and Peter dropped into the room and he dropped the book in surprise. He hadn't heard them come, so engulfed had he been in the book, so when they suddenly stood next to him he wasn't ready.  
"Oh no." Remus gasped before diving down and taking up the book, making sure it wasn't damaged. Sirius smiled. He found Remus' obsession with keeping things whole quite funny.  
"It's okay. We drops our books all the time, they can take it. And if not, we only buys a new one."  
Remus on the other hand still had extremely hard to cope with his friends' nonchalance about money and nice things. But he guessed that was what happened if you literally had things served to you on a silver plate (or gold in James' case) your whole life.

"We only dropped in because James' forgot his book in diplomacy. Do you know where…?" Peter asked. Remus sighed and pointed toward one of the bookshelves.  
"Second shelve to the right." He told them. He loved to be here, he got to read all their books and most of the books in the castle's library, but he was very jealous about that they got to attend to _private lessons_ , and they didn't even like it. They always complained about school, and he would keep his mouth shut because he was worried that he would scream at them how lucky they were who got to go to school, and to study for the best teachers there was. What wouldn't he give for that chance? What wouldn't his parents give to give him that chance? And his friends weren't even grateful.

James took up the book Remus' had been reading, _the Proud History of the Kingdom of Gryffindor_ by Samuel Loonat, and looked at it.  
"Why are you reading my history book?" he asked, confused why anybody would study if they didn't have to. Remus shook his head and took the book from James' careless grip.  
"Because I want to learn, of course. Not everyone is allowed to go to school, you know, and I want to know things so I study the best I can." He said patiently, keeping himself from sounding frustrated.  
"You-you want to go to school?" Sirius asked surprised. "And you don't get to?"  
Remus sighed.  
"Yes, I want to. More than anything. And it isn't like I don't _get_ to, but school isn't cheap and even though we're a lot better off than before we don't have the money."  
"Oh." Was all they said before they had to leave for Diplomacy.

* * *

The next morning the three of them bounced into the Lupins' quarters – a living room, a kitchen and two bedrooms – and shouted at Remus to get ready.  
"What's going on?" Remus asked as he came out to them from his bedroom, smiling at his friends' eagerness. They grinned widely as Hope and Lyall also came out to them; they had a free day today.  
"I talked to mother and father yesterday." James said. "And after a while they told me that yes, you could go to classes with us! So get ready, you're going to school!"  
The Lupins stared at the prince in shock.  
"…School?" Remus whispered, afraid that he had heard wrong. James smiled and nodded.  
"School. With us. In an hour. So hurry up! We've got English first and Professor McGonagall won't be happy if we're late! Especially not on your first day! You needn't worry about equipment, you can share with us."

Suddenly the shock let go of Remus and he threw himself on his friends, unable to help himself.  
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" he chanted, over the moon of happiness. They laughed and hugged him back before they parted.  
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Sirius demanded to know. "Get ready, I won't get detention because _you_ took too much time in the morning."  
"Nah, you get detention for pranking the teacher." Peter muttered cheerfully and Sirius nodded solemnly.  
"Exactly."

Remus ran back into his room to get the few things he had meanwhile Hope left to the kitchens to make Remus a breakfast sandwich. Lyall's eyes shone with gratefulness when he looked at the three nobles.  
"Thank you so much, your highness." He said, smiling widely. "You've just made one of mine and Hope's biggest dreams go true; give Remus an education. We can't thank you enough."  
James blushed slightly, feeling a little embarrassed. He hadn't actually done anything, his parents had never been able to say no to him since he was their "miracle-child" who got born when they thought they never would get a child. So the only thing he did was telling his parents that he wanted Remus to go to classes with them and keep saying it a few minutes and then they agreed.  
"It's nothing, Mr Lupin." He replied, feeling a bit awkward.  
"Oh, but it is." Lyall assured him. "You hopefully learns that as you get older, but for someone like Remus, or someone like Hope and I when we were young, an education is something alien, something you dream of but knows you will never get. An education is the key to a better future, but the key is on a place you can never reach. But you gave Remus possibility to reach the key when you took us here, and then you gave it to him when your parents allowed him to participate in your lessons."

Thankfully, if you asked the three nobles, Remus soon returned, took the sandwich his mother gave him and they left to go to James' quarters before classes, so the brown-haired boy saved the nobles from more embarrassment. Really, it was nothing. They had only wanted to do something nice for their friend, and it was a bit selfish too because lessons would probably be a bit more funny if Remus was there too.

* * *

An hour later the four boys sat in the prince's classroom, waiting for their teacher to arrive. Remus had got parchment, ink and quill from James and shared book with Peter, who he sat next to. He felt nervous, because meanwhile he had met Professor McGonagall – Lady Minerva McGonagall, advisor to King Albus of Hogwarts – before, he had no idea what she really was like, and even less like a teacher. Also, this was his first lesson ever and the three other boys obviously knew a lot more than him since they had studied for years.  
"Calm down, Rem." James said with a grin and Remus flinched at the surprise. "Minnie is strict, but she loves us and she'll love you too. You know, she's one of the only people in the castle allowed to use our first names even though she doesn't very often."

Remus nodded and suddenly the door opened and Professor McGonagall came in. Three of her students grinned and her new student glanced at her nervously. She looked at him. She didn't smile, but her eyes seemed sympathetic.  
"Good morning, Mr Lupin." McGonagall said. "I've understood you're going to join us from now on?"  
"Yes Professor." Remus agreed nervously and she nodded.  
"You might get a little hard to keep up in the beginning, but I've understood you're intelligent and if necessary I will give you extra lessons."  
Remus' eyes widened. Would she do that? She was a noble after all, and it was one thing to allow him to participate in the lessons, another to lay her free time to help him catch up with the other three. She seemed to sense his shock and smiled slightly.  
"I suppose you can read?"  
Remus nodded mutely and she began the lesson.  
"Today we're going to study one of the most famous children stories, _the Tale of the Three Brothers_ , to find the message of the story and if you think it might be any truth in it." She told them.

After the lesson Remus was happy. It had been really interesting, and he had known the tale by heart since he had read it so many times and his parents had told him that one his whole life. He suspected that McGonagall had chosen to do this today simply because his first lesson would be easy, and it was confirmed when Sirius exclaimed that this was the easiest lesson he could remember but he didn't particularly care. The rest of the classes during the day, such as etiquette (which was the hardest since he in difference to the others hadn't got any education in this other than usual manners) with Professor Penrose, Music with Professor Flitwick (Flitwick quickly saw that Remus seemed extraordinary talented with instruments) and a course in History (which was quite easy since Remus already had read all books about the subject he could come over), was interesting and he immediately liked many of the teachers even if Professor Trimble seemed to deem it unworthy to teach a commoner but Remus didn't care much since he was too happy over actually going to school – for free even.

Afterwards the boys took it for them to teach Remus horse-riding too, so he would be able to follow them on their adventures and when Remus went to bed that evening after doing his homework he was exhausted, but happier than he had been in a long time, which didn't say little since he had had some of his best moments in his life during the time since he met James, Sirius and Peter.

* * *

 **Review!  
Even if you didn't like it I would appreciate if you said so, as long as you tell me why you didn't like it so I can write better next time. After all, criticism makes the writer or something.**

 **This was the first AU I have ever written, so I don't really know whether it's good or not, but I hope it's okay at least. It took three days after all. I apologize that it was so long but I didn't want to make it a multi-chapter fic and I wanted to get a lot in it. And I didn't really know how to end it either, but I hope it was an okay ending. :)**


	2. The Five Great Nations

**Disclaimer: I own none of the names of the countries, nor do I own any recognizable places or names. But I do own everything else.**

 _Hello!  
I'm going to continue with A New Life soon, but I will write it in one-shots so I don't have to feel stressed to update. I will send them in chronological order, though. So I wrote this to explain the world they lives in, because otherwise I try to get it into the stories and that made me get away from the subject. I tried to base them on the Houses obviously, on their values and which kind of people that usually ends up in them (things like education, the fields they care they are the most successful in. I hope I didn't favoured anyone too much or made anyone too bad. If you read this I think the coming stories will be a bit easier to understand, plus that I put really much time in this and I don't want it to be waisted... ;)_

* * *

 **Kingdom of Hogwarts** – Monarchy. King/Queen. Hogwarts is ruled by a royal family, and the throne has been inherited for hundreds of years to the oldest son in the family. The rulers is of the Dynasty of Dumbledore and in fact, they're related to all the different original families, both by marriage and by history. Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin were all family. They were cousins to the Dumbledore Family, but none of them was the child of the old king. The old king and queen were childless and decided to give all their sibling children a part of their kingdom. The king's oldest sister's son, Percival I, got Hogwarts. The king's middle sister's daughter Helga got the South West and West part of the kingdom. His youngest sister's son Salazar got the East part. The queen's brother's son Godric got the South part and the queen's sister's daughter Rowena got the North and North East part.

The king is pretty much autocratic. The law states that he must listen to his nobles, his advisors and his parliament, but in the end he's the one who makes the decisions. Women can't sit in the parliament (which consists of the educated), but they can be official royal advisors. King Albus II's most trusted advisor is a woman: Lady Minerva McGonagall, widowed duchess of Hogsmeade.

Nobles have their own estates, like in all the other countries, but they have a lot of restrictions to follow in how they can rule it, so they don't have nearly as much power over them as the nobles in Gryffindor. Serfs exist, but there are not very many. Therefore the commoners have quite a lot of freedom to do what they want if they don't break any laws. There aren't many people who live hand-to-mouth either, even if they exist. But after Hufflepuff they have the smallest amount of really poor people who struggle to survive.

Hogwarts also likes to meddle in the other countries' affairs, especially with each other, even though they don't actually have any powers over the other countries. The king and his parliament just often tries to give advice to whoever it is they are trying to affect. But they often do give wise advice, so the other countries usually listen at least a little.  
Education is restricted. Of course, those with money can hire their own private tutors and young noble sons are sent as pages to the royal castle, but the actual schools are attended by the intelligent ones. When children reach the age of seven, they will do tests to see if they will get basic education, and those who do good will get education. Then at ten, when they can read and write and other basic skills, they'll do another test to see if they get to continue the education. This applies to everybody: commoners and nobles, poor and rich. Poor people who succeeds will get scholarships to be able to buy everything they need for school. But then again, rich people whose children don't succeed can get private tutors or ship their children to schools in other countries.

The parliament's members are chosen from the boys who succeeds in school, and both girls and boys can be chosen to be royal or noble advisors.

Hogwarts has gotten a mix between all the other countries' people in specializations, but the things they've got most of are diplomats and physicians, and teachers. They care a lot about culture, and have fantastic musicians. Their architecture is fantastic too, and their architects have studied in Hufflepuff, and overall they are very appreciative of artists. No matter if you're educated or not, if you can sing, play an instrument, play in theatre, paint or something else, you're welcome to the capital and to exercise your arts.  
The capital is Hogsmeade, and is placed next to the biggest forest in the Known World. The Forbidden Forest. There are a lot of legends about it, but no one can tell if they're true or not because anyone who has wandered in there has never been seen again. They probably just got lost and never found their way out again, but who knows?

The first known king of Hogwarts, and the father of Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin (taken surnames) was King Merlin the Great.

* * *

 **Kingdom of Gryffindor** – Monarchy. King/Queen. The king is autocratic. He has a parliament, but he doesn't need to listen to them at all, they're pretty much advisors. It's an all-men government and even though he can take advice from women they can't hold any official positions. Gryffindor is ruled by the linear descendants of Godric Gryffindor and the oldest son always inherits the throne. If there's no son to inherit it, the closest relative does instead. Only regal sons of course, even though b*** can be accepted as royalties, but they can't inherit the throne. However, they can hold positions as nobles, up to grand dukes/duchesses, which is the position beneath the king and his family.  
Many nobles have their own estates which they practically rule as their own little kingdom (such as Grimmauld, Aleria, Peverell Island, Ramora…) but they have to follow the laws that are there to protect the commoners and the serfs in the country, which the king and his government has created. The king also has the power to dismiss nobles – take away their nobility or just their estate – and doesn't actually need any evidence. Even if he waits until he gets it if he doesn't want to wake displeasure toward his nobles and possibly the commoners, if they liked the noble. The most powerful nobles sit in the parliament, together with one representative from each state (farmers, burghers, priests and nobility).

Gryffindor is very much a nation of warriors. They don't appreciate art and music and architecture as much as their brother and sister-countries. Not to say they don't have their fair share and aren't skilled at it, they just lay more resources on their militia, farming, craftsmen, and other practical things. They have one of the biggest armies in the Known World and even though they haven't declared war on anybody for around 130 years they always keep it ready and in top condition in the case that a war would start or if their inferior countries such as Surrey and Ministeria would struggle against their grip. They rule the biggest territory of the ocean, and they have a great navy.

The supreme commander is the king or his heir, who is also in charge of training the royal knights and the life guards of the royal family. Therefore the crown prince gets military training very early and is trained to be a good strategist.

The capital is named Gryffindale, and is the biggest port town of Gryffindor.  
They've got many merchant ships and many skilled craftsmen. The Gryffindors are also known as very good horse-men, and have bred many of the finest horses in the Known World. Gryffindors also have one of the best polices in the world and some of the best hunters too. They're experts at tracing and also they're the country which is the best with the longbow.

The education is really good in Gryffindor, but you've got to have money to pay for it. Therefore the poor usually don't get education, even though nobles sometimes give out scholarships in their own estates. This is nothing the state interferes in though. Every estate must have a school, but who can attend is up to the nobles themselves. The nobles usually sends their children to private schools, have tutors or when they reach that age, send them to the royal castle as pages – the sons.

* * *

 **The Empire of Slytherin** – Monarchy. Emperor/Empress. The throne is inherited by the most suitable male member who is a lineal descendant to Salazar Slytherin, the first emperor of Slytherin. The king is practically autocratic, but is entitled to at least listen to his parliament before making an important decision and in some cases it's enough to make the king change his mind.  
Slytherin is entirely a men's empire. The king can obviously take advises from his queen and other women, but they can't hold any official positions in the parliament or as royal advisors. The royal advisors and their parliament are almost entirely made up of nobility. There are five places that the commoners are allowed to vote for and take, but how much they will be listened on depends entirely on the current monarch and nobles. The king and his nobles can also choose commoners to be advisors if they wish to, but those advisors have no actual power if the king or nobles choose not to listen to them. But even though commoners can't hold important positions in the government they can succeed in other ways. The military is open for everyone to be a part of, and the officers are chosen from how good they are, not which family they were born into.

Their militia is together with Gryffindor's one of the best (all the Great Nations have big and well trained armies) and they always keep it ready, just like their neighbours do. The king, or if he's too old, his heir is the supreme commander over the militia even though most emperors of Slytherin have left a war minister to take care of it and train the royal forces. They train many strategists and often prefer to fight cunningly instead of by force even though they certainly got both.

The commoners can also try to succeed as researchers, artists and architects since Slytherins values these things highly, or like physicians or lawyers. If you can pay for your school you have all chances to reach them, and sometimes a few scholarships are given out to commoners who don't have the money, if the monarch is willing to give them out.

The capital is Knockturn. It is known for its incredibly skilled lawyers, diplomats, businessmen and also for the human sciences such as psychology and sociology. They're also producing the most successful actors. If you're going to have a ball with theatre, and you can pay, you usually hire a theatre group from Slytherin.

During the last five years, though, things seemed to get darker in the kingdom. The spies in the other countries have placed there where they know that the emperor seems to renovate the army and fewer and fewer educated themselves on other things than being warrior, fighting and strategy. Scholarships for commoners are unheard of and short said, the government doesn't seem to want commoners in their schools anymore, even if they can pay for themselves. After the new emperor got the power – a b*** but the only linear descendant that was to find – the other countries started fearing what he's planning. Emperor Voldemort is changing his country, and not for the better. Of course, except for their theatre Slytherin, it wasn't much liked before by many either – except Ravenclaw – but now people are beginning to fear what they're doing.

Emperor Voldemort was born Tom Marvolo Riddle, or Tom Riddle Jr. His mother, who was a princess, ran away with his father but the father left her when she got pregnant. He didn't want a child. Then she died when Tom was born, but not until she could give him his name. He was raised at an orphanage, but when the emperor – Emperor Marvolo XVI – and the crown prince, Prince Morfin, died, they searched everywhere for another descendant and Tom was found to be the lost and disinherited Princess Merope's son. In other cases he would never have been made the ruler, but he was the only one there was to find. He didn't think an emperor could be named Tom, and he didn't want anything to do with his filthy commoner father, so he took the name Voldemort and got crowned as such.

* * *

 **The Kingdom of Hufflepuff** – Democratic monarchy. King/Queen. The ruler is chosen for a ten-year-period and rules with the help of his or her family and a democratic chosen parliament. It doesn't matter whether the ruler or the members of the parliament are male or female. The Hufflepuffs are the most equal of the countries in the Known World. Mostly the rulers are chosen from the nobility, but there have been cases when a commoner has become king or queen. The parliament always has representatives from the nobility, burgesses, labourers and farmers. Their share of chairs in the parliament depends on how many of each there are in the country, therefore the nobility have least chairs in difference to the other countries. The ruler is not autocratic, s/he must listen and obey his/her parliament and in the end the people will have the last word.  
The Dynasty of Hufflepuff is one of the oldest and most powerful noble families in the country but even though one of them have been chosen to rule many times they doesn't necessarily partake in the ruling of the kingdom.

School is open to everyone, and so is to continue study since the school is free. They also get free food in school, so even the poor can eat. They have subsidies to families that need them and free healthcare. This results in high taxes, though, so the state can pay for all this. But the citizens of Hufflepuff don't seem to mind since they don't need to pay more than they can and still live on it.

Hufflepuff's got a great militia, and they're known as fierce warriors if they believes in the cause. They almost never declares war on someone, but if they're attacked or if any of their allies are in need of help, they're terrifying in a battle. The supreme commander and his or her officers are chosen by skill and personality by the government. Everyone, even women, can join the military and if they're good, they will get ranks as officers. The supreme commander is always a noble, though, but all other ranks are free to get no matter which place you've got in the hierarchy.

Their capital is called Diagon, and is known as the most beautiful city in the Known World. They have great culture and the best medicinal university. They're also a culture centre and have a lot of musicians, painters and other kinds of artists. Also, their architecture is world famous.

* * *

 **The Principality of Ravenclaw** –Partly-democratic monarchy. Prince/Princess. The role as king in Ravenclaw is inherited in the Dynasty of Ravenclaw, by the oldest male linear descendant to Rowena Ravenclaw, but the places in the parliament are given to the academic and creative elite in the country. Everyone is given the chance for an education, so everyone has a chance to be allowed to take a chair. The members of the parliament sit in five years until the people vote for a jury who will choose the new parliament from the elite. A woman can't be the ruler, but she can sit in the parliament.

In the beginning the throne was inherited by the oldest female member, but a few hundreds of years ago it changed to the male member when there was no daughter to find who was a linear descendant of Rowena. After that the throne has been inherited by the oldest son of the old king.

Their military force is big, just as all the Great Nations. It's necessary to keep their domain. Just as everything else in Ravenclaw, the militia is ruled by the most competent, even though the highest officer ranks can only be held by nobility. Only men are allowed into the military, but there's a special force where both men and women are allowed, called _Rowena's knights_ – even though they're not actually knights. Only nobles can reach knighthood and everyone no matter status is welcome in Rowena's knights.  
Ravenclaw is one of the countries with the most science and schools. They have very good culture too, but not as much as Hufflepuff or Slytherin. Instead, they've got extremely advanced scientists, philosophers and researchers, which have made them the centre of technology.

Their capital is named Horizont and is the city which most universities in the Known World.

* * *

 **Surrey** – Inferior to the Great Nations. Mostly subordinate to Gryffindor, but has to listen to all the Great Nations, especially Slytherin who is its second neighbour, and Hogwarts, another neighbour. Surrey has its own royal family – a king and queen – and is a men's kingdom. Women are pretty inferior there, even more than in the other countries. They've got the lowest view on women in all the countries.

 **Ministeria** – Inferior to the Great Nations. Mostly subordinate to Slytherin but has to listen to all the Great Nations, especially Ravenclaw and Hogwarts which is its closest neighbours except Slytherin. Is ruled by a viscount and his family. Is a men's kingdom, but strong women can easily work their way up and be the power behind the throne.

* * *

 **I'll try to give you a one-shot soon.**

 **I kind of based Hufflepuff on Sweden today (except of course that the throne is inherited and the king/queen doesn't have a bit of power. They're mostly advertisment of Sweden), and Gryffindor on Sweden during "Stormaktstiden", which means our time as a Great Power in Europe (1611-1718), under King Karl XI and King Karl XII. Not as bellicose, and not very historically correct, but in the ground that was what I based it on. A bit was taken from King Gustav III and such too. At least in the stories a bit is from that time.**

 **The other countries was entirely improvised, except that I got the idea of** _Rowena's knights_ **from the book series The Immortals by Tamora Pierce, and they might have a few similarities to the greeks. That wasn't purposely, though.**


	3. The Gods

**So... I realized it would be strange if this world had the same gods/God as us, so I created new. Here you get an explanation of them. And no worries, next real chapter will be up really soon!**

 _Sol_ – Sol is one of the two gods the people in this part of the world worships. This one is (most likely, it have been discussed by the priests) male, and the twin brother of Luna. He's The Life-bringer, and the Day. People prays to him when they want good harvest and when they want children – they ask for fertility in earth and humans or their critters. When offering to him, you often offer crops, fruits and other things from the nature, and he will be pleased. He do not want anything that once had a consciousness, so animals are out of the picture. You worship him during the day, as that's when he is seen, travelling over the sky and spreading the light and warmth of the day to the people on Earth. Children often are blessed in the name of Sol to give them long and healthy lives.  
But you better watch out. Make him angry and he might not give your fields sun enough, or perhaps too much – a drought. He favours farmers over townsfolk and is also the god that many nobles and other rich people favours and prays to. Especially the countryside-nobles whose estates mostly consists of farms, fields and villages, but also the nobles in the big cities and who own the estates with the biggest cities.  
He is the favourite in Slytherin and Hogwarts.

 _Luna_ – Luna is the second god, and most people think of her as female. She is known as The Protector and the Night. She is worshipped underneath the stars, when you can see her travelling the sky and giving light to the night. She is the warrior of the two siblings, and the one who fights the evil forces that tries to take control of the world. Prayers and offerings (she likes to get anything that grows during the night, such as Moonflowers and Starlilies – but those are to be planted on her altar, not to be plucked and burnt or hurt in any way. If you really need her help or wish to help her you can offer predators of the night) makes her stronger and helps her to hunt the demons and devils away. Many children are blessed in the name of Luna to protect them from evil and to make them strong and also kind, since she also is the kinder of the two. She lights up the dark night after all, spreading light during the time when we need it the most. The stars are her warriors and she is their queen and supreme commander. Homeless and orphans often prays to Luna for her to protect them, since she are known to have a weakness for the defenceless. Luna is especially popular in Hufflepuff and in Gryffindor, by different reasons, even though both countries makes sure not to anger the sun-god either.

 _Thalassa_ – Thalassa is the Ocean Goddess and Daughter of Luna. She is also the goddess over lakes, rivers and all sorts of waters and is unpredictable as the sea. She can be extremely kind and help sailors or people who live next to the ocean in times of need, but can also be vengeful, easy to anger and extremely dangerous. Dolphins and sea horses are sacred to her. Never ever offer a sea animal to her, or you'll most likely not survive next trip over the great waters, if she's not in incredibly good mood. She wants animals and plants from land, or jewellery and other things made of objects and plants from the ocean. Naturally is she most popular close to the coast, and mostly worshipped by sailors and fishers. Thalassa seems to have a weak spot for children but is overall pretty indifferent in who she kills or favours - just like the ocean itself. She is the queen of the merpeople and sirens, and one thing she is not indifferent about is if you hurt one of her people or sacred animals. If you do that you better keep away a long bit from the ocean or any waters greater than the well or you can expect a horrid revenge. It is said that she have a fish tail, but other people say they've seen her with legs - mostly survivors from ship wrecks. Possibly she can change form, or the survivors just hallucinated.  
The Thalassalic Ocean is named in her honour.

Then there's a few _minor_ _gods_ too, but they're mostly regional and is worshipped only in a few parts of the World. Especially the commoners can have their lesser gods, the nobles and the commoners with a good education do not tend to worship other than Sol  & Luna, and Thalassa if they're going to travel or live next to the ocean or any other waters. Most of them is said to either be the children of Sol or Luna (the mother/father is unknown, if there is one) but they can also be nature sprites, created by the Nature or Universe itself.

 **Well, there they are. And just to explain: That the female god is the one who uses weapons doesn't matter a bit in the Known World of the same reason that the greeks had a female hunter godess (Artemis) and a female warrior godess (Athena) and women still wasn't allowed to do either of these things - even though the women of Sparta was sportswomen.**


	4. Chapter II: Birthdays and chivalry

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling.**

 **This is in a way not a part of the actual story I will publish later on. It's more... before I can publish that I had to get one thing made and I did that in this story. I hope you'll enjoy it, but if not... well, then I hope you will find the actual story better. A small Spoiler and a warning: If you don't like it in the beginning, don't judge it until the end because it is in the evening the crucial things happens.**

* * *

 **15 years old**

 _27 Mars 08.34_

James was lying in his bed, sleeping soundly. Sirius smiled and chuckled for himself meanwhile he slowly opened the door into James' bed chamber. This would be funny. He waved to the others to follow him and they all sneaked closer to the prince's bed. James lied there so calmly, with Lady Bastet curled onto his head, sleeping too. Neither would much longer.

The others smiled when they saw James, except for Remus and Peter who too smirked.  
"Ready?" Remus whispered. "On your places."  
They surrounded the crown prince's gigantic bed and counted down to zero.  
3…2…1…0!"  
And the boys set fire on the firecrackers meanwhile they and the rest of the assembly cried:  
"Happy birthday!"

James and Lady Bastet both flied up from the bed; James into sitting position and Lady Bastet down on the floor, hissing. That cat didn't like anyone but James (she didn't _dislike_ Sirius or the queen at least, and tolerated Remus and Peter, but everyone else was a lost cause), and she could get aggressive when scared, so Remus quickly threw her some bacon to get her to calm down.  
The black haired boy – or man, since you was counted as a man in the Great Nations from the day you turned 15 (Sirius had teased his friends into insanity about it since his birthday was around six months before the other three's. Now only Peter had to turn 15 too, and until then he would have to endure a lot of teasing) – looked around frantically, trying to see where the attack was but calmed down as he saw his friends, his parents and the royal family's most trusted servants, among them Mr and Mrs Lupin. Mr Lupin was the castle's steward by now. They had come a long way since the time when they struggled to find job to pay for their food.

James stared at them for a moment before grinning and begin to laugh. His friends joined in and the adults (since you wasn't an adult even though you was a man before you turned 17. That was also when you was old enough to marry) smiled cheerfully.  
"Thanks." He said sheepishly, a little ashamed over having being frightened, and put on his glasses that was lying on the nightstand.  
"You're officially a man like me and Remy now." Sirius said teasingly and Remus smirked. "Now only Pete is a little boy."  
 _'Aaaand it had begun'_. Peter thought and rolled his eyes.  
"For a month more." He pointed out but was ignored since King Fleamont waved to the servants to take out the gifts. The king and queen, and the three Marauders, held one gift each, but there was around ten more. And then more gifts from nobles and other countries' representatives would be given to him during the big ball later that evening.

James grin widened and he began to open the presents. He got books about horse polo – his and Sirius' favourite sport, a new longbow, a new knife and much more. When he had opened them all the king waved to Lyall Lupin, who went and got something from outside the room. The king looked solemn when he gave it to James. This wasn't wrapped in any papers or something, it just had a cloth of silk around it. James took it carefully and began to take away the cloth. When it was gone he and his friends gasped.  
"This…" he stammered. "It's the Sword of Gryffindor."  
He stared at his father in shock. The Sword of Gryffindor was worn by the king and had been in the family since Godric Gryffindor himself. It was said that the sword held magical characteristics and that the Kingdom of Gryffindor and the Gryffindor Dynasty always would have a future as long as a member of the Gryffindor Dynasty wielded it. It was the highest honour for any knight or noble to be allowed to touch the Sword, and now he was sitting there with it in his lap, in his bed and sleeping clothes.

King Fleamont nodded and smiled, looking proud when he looked at his son.  
"Yes. I am too old to be able to use it properly, so I have decided that I will leave it over to you, my son and heir. The ceremony of the Sword will be held during your birthday ball tonight."  
James, and everyone in the room that hadn't already known (the king, the queen, and the Lupin parents) gaped. James opened and closed his mouth a few times before swallowing.  
"I… I am honoured, Father, that you trust me with it." He said, still staring at the king. "I promise to use it well."  
"I am sure, son." His father nodded, looking even prouder now. "I will have to take it for today, but tonight it will be yours until you choose to leave it to your own son, or dies. Hopefully the first."  
James nodded, still shaken, and held up the sword and turned it over to the king once again.

After a few moments of silence Sirius seemed to get enough and began to chatter about what they would do today. Sirius had never been able to stand silence when he was visiting since it reminded him too much about his own estate – Grimmauld – where his own chateau always was quiet unless someone was yelling at him or the servants. Obviously there would be a lot of formalities this day, and James would have to stand meeting many nobles and representatives today, but during the middle of the day he and his friends would get a few hours off to do whatever they wanted as long as they stayed safe.  
Not that they usually did, but no one had to know that.

After about ten more minutes the royal couple and the servants left, except James' chamberlain Nathan. Nathan had been serving James for years and refused to retire, even though he had been offered and promised that he would not lack anything. James didn't really know why, because he was sure that Nathan wasn't actually very fond in him since the servant always seemed to think his escapades was wrong and unworthy. He had thought the chamberlain would happily retire as soon as he got the offer from James, for three years ago. But he hadn't, by some reason.

By all the rules of society Sirius, Remus and Peter would leave too, to give James the privacy to dress without public – with the help of Nathan of course since that was one of the things he always _insisted_ that he would do, no matter if his highness thought he could dress himself or not – but they had known him since they were very young and had seen each other without clothes millions of times, so no one felt the need of it. After all, they were practically brothers. For a few hundreds of years ago there had actually been an honour, reserved for the most influent of nobles, to watch any member of the royal family dress. The king was best of course (for men), and the heir was second best (also for men), and for women the queen was the best and the princesses second best. But that tradition had luckily been abolished for 150 years ago.

They mostly ignored the chamberlain as he went to get clothes for James and assisted the prince in dressing, and eagerly made up plans for their free hours. First they had thought about going to a pub in one of the villages surrounding Gryffindale, but realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to get drunk before a royal ball. Especially not James' 15th birthday ball, since practically everyone of weight in the Known World would be there. Even representatives from Surrey and Ministeria – the small and unimportant kingdoms which everyone from the Great Nations looked down upon. Neither had seen the guest list yet, but Remus had heard from some of the servants that there was a chance that King Cornelius IV of Ministeria should come in person. None of them had met King Cornelius, but he had rumours surrounding him about paranoia and cowardice.

Instead they was planning on taking a ride in the Autumn Forest and maybe go to some of the villagers, but not to drink but just to see what was happening. All of them (except Remus, since he wasn't nobility) found it very enjoyable to be 'commoners' sometimes, and just to be treated like equals rather than put on pedestals – or in Sirius' case, thrown on the ground and treated like dirt, like he quite often was 'home' at Grimmauld, by his parents and other relatives, like his aunts, uncles and cousins. His little brother Regulus mostly ignored him, which for Sirius was even worse. At least he got some recognition, got to feel that he actually was worth their time even though it was abuse, from the others. James and the rest of Sirius' real family – his friends and the king and queen – had been really worried since they found out about this, but they couldn't do much. Although the king legally _could_ take Sirius away from his blood-family even if there wasn't any laws against 'disciplining' your children, it would cause enragement from the nobles and the allies of the Black family, especially since Sirius was the heir, and Sirius wouldn't let them risk that. But they made sure that Sirius spent as much time as possible in Gryffindale or Aleria – the Pettigrew estate - or came with them on official journeys.

When Nathan finished dressing James – James had long since given up on protesting – they walked out into James' parlour where the rest was waiting. Now only the king and queen and Remus' parents was here, the rest of the servants had left.  
They made company down to the dining room – not the smaller, more private one the royals used sometimes when they wanted more privacy, but one of the greater, where a gigantic birthday breakfast was served.

* * *

 _09.05_

A servant showed up and escorted James to the master seat and the others took place around the table. Technically Remus wasn't allowed to sit at the table, he was a servant too and should be serving food or something instead, but when it came to him they had given up everything like that years ago. He got all the privileges of nobility except those that the law said that only nobles could have (such as knighthood or not having to pay taxes) and everyone had stopped to question it after James and Sirius lost their patience about it and almost had a valet disciplined when they were twelve. They probably would've gone through with it if Remus hadn't begged the king to stop it. The poor valet had been released with only a night in the dungeon in the baggage and the relief of not being punished worse. Both of the young men had grown since then, both physically and mentally, of course and wouldn't punish someone – at least not that severely – for something so small. But they _had_ said that it wouldn't be questioned and still the servants had done it, and disobedience couldn't be accepted. Some punishment had to come. Luckily the king had agreed with Remus that a night in the dungeon was enough and had stopped it in the nick of time.

No one else joined them at the table, but every noble and all the servants that wasn't on duty had the right to come and see the prince eat his breakfast. It was his birthday after all, and practically a national feast.

* * *

 _09.48_

After breakfast they went to the stables, where the stable boys had made their horses ready. It would be a procession in Gryffindale, so the commoners too would be able to celebrate their prince. Most people would've felt embarrassed over all this, but James both loved attention (even though he preferred it because he had done something great rather than that he had been born) and he was too used to this kind of things. Sure, this was bigger than it had been before since he now was a man, but every birthday they had done something like this. It was how it was, as simple as that.

This time all his friends couldn't be with him. Sirius was allowed to ride close to him since he was the heir of one of the most important noble families and almost as good as royalty, but Peter and Remus rode longer back since the Pettigrews only was counts, and therefore wasn't as powerful as the Blacks who was dukes – second beneath the royal family only. Remus should actually be in the back, but it had been decided that no one would notice or disagree if he rode next to Peter.

James' parents rode just behind him – he was in the front and the only people in front of him was six knights; members of the royal family's private guard. Normally his parents would've ridden first since they had the highest status, but this was James' day.

James petted his horse, Shadow Dancer, under the mane. Shadow was quite old, he had had her for years, and she was also beginning to get too small. He would have to get a new horse soon and send her into retirement, especially since the prince couldn't ride a too small horse. It wasn't dignified. But he would feel sad when he did, she was his first real horse except the miniature ponies he had as a child, until he was six years old when he got Shadow, and she had always been there. She was also a beautiful horse even though she was beginning to turn grey. She was a black and white pinto-coloured Horizont Forest Pony – one of Ravenclaw's best and most durable ponies. Then he legged her on and the procession began.

When they left the castle's walls they was immediately surrounded by townsfolk and villagers that had travelled into the city to see the royals and their future king. It wasn't often they got this chance (that they knew of. The prince and his friends often sneaked out of the castle dressed as commoners).  
The people cheered and threw the few flowers that already had blossomed at James. James smiled and waved. This was one of the better aspects of being royal. Seeing his subjects and subordinates smiling at him.

"Want to bet about that you'll have to kiss babies today, mate?" Sirius asked, grinning. He talked less formally when no one but his friends could hear – they were all expected to speak properly and well-articulated – and it was so much sound that the risk that anyone would was not big. James smirked toward his black haired friend.  
"How much? 20 golds?"  
"50."  
"The bet is on."  
Sirius won.

* * *

 _11.40_  
When they had returned to the castle of Gryffindale they changed from the formal and expensive clothes they wore to more comfortable and cheaper (even though still pretty expensive) white skirts, black or brown trousers and leather boots and left to go back to the stables. To their surprise they found the king and queen there. To find Queen Euphemia there wasn't too big of a surprise, she had been a good rider back in her days and liked to visit the horses even though she was too old to do something more on the back of a horse than walking through the city now, but the king hadn't visited the stables for years. He simply didn't like it there.

"Mother? Father?" James asked. "What are you doing here?"  
They smiled and walked up to them.  
"Before you leaves, we have got another present for you, James." The queen told him. James wondered what it could be, down in the stables. Had they gotten him a new horse? Not without his approval, right?  
He didn't ask, because it was not his place to question his parents' actions – they were the king and queen after all – and the three men and the boy (Peter) followed the royal couple to the backside of the stable. The four of them gasped when they reached it. There was four stable boys, struggling to contain four beautiful horses. Neither had ever seen a horse like that before. One of the horses was a black appaloosa-coloured mare. Another was a wonderful shade of red roan – a stallion. The other two was a black sabino-coloured stallion and a dapper grey mare.  
"Mother? Father?" James asked again, taken breathless by the beautiful horses. James loved horses. Only cats was better in his opinion.

The king smiled at his face and waved to one of the stable boys, the one who held the sabino-coloured stallion. He succeeded to lead the horse to them, but looked very grateful when the queen showed him that he was to give the reins to the prince, who took them and let the horse smell his hand. The stallion's breath tickled him, but he didn't even think about it when he slowly lifted his hand and caressed the horse's head. First he winced, but then James found the right spot to scratch and he leaned his head into the prince's touch.

"This, James, is a new race." The queen told him. "They are a mix between Gryffindorian full blood and Helga Valley horses, and were bred as a part of the renewing of the alliance between our countries."  
The two horses the queen mentioned was two of the noblest horses that existed in the Known World. James felt a tingle of excitement by the thought of what a crossing between those two could do.  
"And this stallion's name is Midnight Madness." Queen Euphemia continued. She was very pleased that her son had inherited her love for horses. And he was a boy, so he had much easier to be allowed to take wild rides over the fields, something she practically never had gotten the possibility to, being the daughter of the count of Hogsmeade, and the niece of the king of Hogwarts. "And now, he's yours."

"Really?" James breathed, looking at his parents with big eyes. He knew he didn't much behaved like the prince he was right now, but this… he knew his mother wouldn't expect him to right now, and even though his father didn't share their love for horses his mother would make sure King Fleamont didn't say anything.  
"Indeed he are." She smiled. She turned to the other three, who had been watching the horses in awe – none of them loved horses as much as James did but they did appreciate the beauty and obvious power of these horses nevertheless. "And don't think we've forgot about you. Peter, your parents bought you one of them too." Peter's eyes widened and he smiled. He was very glad his parents wanted to assert themselves by always making sure he had the best of everything. "And Sirius, Remus… the other two are yours. Lord and Lady Black will obviously not buy one for you, Sirius…" she said after some hesitation. She didn't like to remind the Black heir that his parents didn't care one bit about him, but luckily he did seem to hear that last, too busy staring at her for the fact that they bought him a horse "but we couldn't let you have a horse that never could keep up with James'. And the same goes for you, Remus. Meanwhile you and your parents are properly salaried, this is the most expensive horses there is right now, so we bought one for you too."

Sirius began to grin, and surprised everyone by hugging the queen. As a well-bred nobleman it really didn't beseem to do so, but as a 15-years old child who had gotten very little love from adults in his life, it was very natural, and both the king and the queen understood this. Plus, they both loved Sirius as a second son and after a moment of shock Queen Euphemia hugged him back, smiling tenderly. She pressed a kiss to the young lord's cheek before they let go.

The king signed to the other stable boys to come up to them with the horses and they did so, meanwhile Remus turned to the royal couple with wide eyes.  
"Your majesties…" he said, swallowing. "I cannot accept this. That horse must have cost more than me and my parents earn in a whole year. I…" he was interrupted by the king.  
"Remus, we can't let you ride your pony meanwhile your friends have got those horses. You will not stand a chance to keep up with them. Furthermore, you are practically a noble, and you often ride next to James through the city. It would not be dignified for the crown prince to ride next to someone on a too small horse. No arguments, that horse it yours. It's an order."  
Remus swallowed once again, but no matter how much he tried to say that they could not buy something so expensive to him the happiness in his eyes were obvious. Finally he bowed.  
"Yes, your majesty." He smiled. "Thank you, your majesties. I am very grateful."

Their horses was presented for them. The dapper grey mare now belonged to Sirius, and the horse had the very fitting name Silver Ghost. The red roan stallion was named Firefly Cayenne, and was Peter's. And the black appaloosa-coloured was named Obsidian Galaxy and was Remus'. All the horses quickly got nicknames, though, since their real names was too long to say normally. James immediately decided for the natural nickname of Mad to Midnight Madness, Silver Ghost got the simple, shorter name of Ghost, Obsidian Galaxy was only called Galaxy and Firefly Cayenne became Fire.

Not wanting to wait to try their new horses – even though James was a little sad since he wouldn't have any choice but send Shadow into retirement now – they sat up and left the yard.

* * *

 _17.00_  
"His royal highness, James, count of Hogsmeade, marquis of Gryffindale and Whinging, duke of Godric's Hollow, prince of Gryffindor and heir to his royal majesty King Fleamont I of Gryffindor." The herald announced to the guests that was socializing and dancing in the great ball room of Gryffindale castle. Every movement immediately stopped and everyone turned their attention to the great doors which the herald stood in front of. Two guards opened them and there James stood, dressed in a red and golden uniform with the crown prince's emblem picturing a young lion that symbolized his status as the heir of Gryffindor and supreme commander over the royal forces (another thing he had become today, the day he turned 15 and overtook the role from his old father – had the king been younger he would still hold the position but King Fleamont was too old to being able to perform his duties as supreme commander properly) together with James' personal emblem - the stag.

The servants had tried to tame James' wild black hair mane, but with little success. But in some strange way James got it to work and the messy hair made him look even more prince-ly. Remus, who stood together with Sirius and Peter close to the stairs on which James stood, so he could be seen by everyone, had to admit that James looked very regal and handsome. He was pretty sure no one in this room could think otherwise.

James nodded and smiled to the guests and walked down the stairs to join the feast. When he reached the bottom of the stairs the three of them hurried to join him before he could get lost in the crowds, since everyone would want to talk to him and he would have to talk to everyone – he was the guest of honour after all.

James grinned toward them as they flocked around him just in time before he was surrounded. The ambassador of Hufflepuff, Lord Cadyryeith of the Hufflepuff Dynasty, smiled toward him and bowed.  
"An honour to finally meet your highness." He said, sounding honest. "I have heard so much about you."  
James bowed back, but lower.  
"I feel the same, Lord Hufflepuff. It is an honour to make your acquaintance. Allow me to introduce my friends, Lord Sirius Black, Lord Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin."  
Lord Hufflepuff, in difference to many nobles from most nations, didn't seem to think it strange or unworthy that he had a friend without a title, and greeted them all equally respectfully, and they greeted back, thankful that Remus wouldn't have to stand being ignored by this one.

Within a half hour James was thirsty and tired of the effort of greeting and remembering everyone's name. Forgetting someone could be taken as a deadly offence, and could, if the person was powerful, be dangerous. James had no doubt that the Gryffindorian forces could take anyone, but why risk any lives when it could be avoided so easily?  
At last he succeeded to get away for a moment and wave for one of the servants that was serving wine and champagne. The four men took one glass of Hufflepuff's best wine each and Remus smirked.  
"Sometimes I am very glad I'm not a noble or royalty." He said, sounding almost smug. Peter laughed.  
"And I am very glad sometimes I am only minor nobility. My parents perhaps wish otherwise, but it seem very strenuous to be as important as you two – prince and marquis and future duke."

James and Sirius had to agree. There was a lot more people who wanted to talk to them than to Peter, and practically no one who was interested in Remus except the people who they already knew and didn't mind that Remus was a commoner. Which was surprisingly few. They were very happy they had met Remus at such a young age, if it had been a few years later it was possible that they too had begun to think at themselves as much better than everyone else simply because they were nobility and royalty. Not that James and Sirius didn't think they were better than everyone else, but that didn't have with their status to do.

Their break was short and soon they again was forced to socialize. After a while they could fortunately escape by inviting the young ladies visiting to dance. All of the four loved to dance, but Sirius did it especially. He was also the one who was the best at it, meanwhile Remus preferred to be the one who played the music – he was very gifted and could play most instruments, even though the piano and the violin was his favourites.

After about four hours, after the supper had been served and they had socialized and danced some more, the herald called out for everyone's attention once again. Upon the stairs the king and queen stood, looking very serious but proud.  
"If I could get everyone's attention, please." King Fleamont called out and the few who still had been talking immediately fell quiet. "If my son would come up here, my wife and I have something to make official."  
James swallowed, guessing what it was about, and walked up on the stairs, looking up on his parents and out over the nobles and royals that was gathered in this room.

When James bowed deeply for his parents and took his place to the right of them both the king began to speak again.  
"I am old, and not as agile as I once was. Once I was a warrior and the supreme commander of the Gryffindorian forces, but I am no longer that. Therefore, I have decided to leave over the Sword of Gryffindor to my son and heir."  
Gasps came from the room. Almost everyone, even those who wasn't Gryffindors, knew what the Sword symbolized in the kingdom and how big the liability placed on the young prince was.  
"Yes. So if my son would step in front of me…"

James swallowed again, forcing his face into the complete neutrality that he'd been taught at a young age – as a prince he must be able to control his emotions in front of his subjects and not show any fear – and walked up in front of his father, falling on one knee and bowing his head. He had learnt when he was ten how this ceremony went, from start to end. King Fleamont held the Sword out, placing the tip on James' head, just beneath his crown.  
"Do thou, James Fleamont of the Gryffindor Dynasty, heir of the Kingdom of Gryffindor, accept the responsibility that follows the ownership of the Sword of Gryffindor? Do thou swear to protect thine kingdom with everything thou can, with thine Sword and with thine words and actions?"  
"I swear." James replied with clear voice.  
"Do thou swear that thou will keep the Sword safe, to keep it to the occupancy of an Heir of Godric Gryffindor only, to the day thou die?"  
"I swear."  
"Do thou swear that thou will trust the Sword, and trust yourself, to do the right?"  
"I swear."  
"Then rise, James of Gryffindor, for the Sword of Gryffindor are thine."  
James stood up and the king handed him the Sword with the handle first, in his left hand. James took it and held it over his head for a moment and the guests applauded, before he dragged his old sword out of the scabbard and gave it to a servant who stood there, ready to serve, and put the Sword inside the scabbard instead.

The ceremony of the Sword of Gryffindor was almost as important as a king's coronation, which was why the language was so old. It hadn't been changed for a thousand years. That was also why the questions not only was about the Sword itself, but the entire kingdom. Because the owner of the Sword was officially the protector of the Kingdom and Dynasty of Gryffindor. Not the king, the one who owned the Sword. Usually they went hand in hand and the next person didn't get the Sword until he became king, but in a few cases, like this, the king decided it was for the best he gave the Sword to his heir. Once it had even been given to the king's nephew instead of son, even though the son was the one who became king. He never got to own the Sword, it went directly to his son.

* * *

 _22.28  
_ Remus was dancing with a young lady his age from Hufflepuff. He thought he had never seen a more beautiful girl. She was minor nobility, because of her father, but her mother had been major nobility before she had ran away and married her father. She was actually a cousin of Sirius' too – his only decent relative except his Uncle Alphard if you asked the young lord.  
"Lady Nymphadora, why did you tell me you cannot dance?" He asked her, smiling. She chuckled and returned his smile.  
"I told you, call me Dora, Mr Lupin. I do not like my name. My mother was a very cruel woman who choose it for me."  
"Lady Dora." Remus tasted the name and nodded. It sounded wonderful.  
"And I told you so because I cannot dance. I am too clumsy. The only reason I do not step on your feet right now, sir, is because you are an excellent dancer that can lead them away from your own feet."  
Remus laughed quietly and assured her that she too was an excellent dancer, but she didn't seem to believe him, neither did she seem to care so much.

Remus didn't know why, he had never paid attention to girls before in difference to his friends, but there was something catching about Lady Nymphadora Tonks, daughter of Lord Edward Tonks and Lady Andromeda Tonks (née Black), viscount and viscountess of Evermore Falls in Hufflepuff. She wasn't as shy and formal as most of the young ladies in Gryffindor or any other place he had visited, and since she came from Hufflepuff she found nothing wrong in him being a commoner. She also was much more open and easy to talk to than most of the other young ladies. She had already told him that she wanted to colour her hair pink, but her parents refused to allow her. Pity, Remus thought. She would definitely look stunning in pink hair, and he had told her that, whereon she had blushed slightly and swatted him over the arm. Yet another thing he never had met a lady who would do before.

Too soon the dance was over and she had other young men she had promised a dance – just like all the ladies she had a list of people she had promised a dance even though she had decided to squeeze him between a duke from Hogwarts and a count from Ravenclaw by some reason. He bowed and felt actually kind of sad that he had to leave her, and a little evil something in his stomach when he saw her curtsey in front of the young Ravenclawian lord. He swatted it off, knowing he had nothing to do with anything she did.

He walked to Sirius who was talking to the duke of Avalerion, Gryffindor's second biggest port town after Gryffindale, and Sirius smiled teasingly toward him.  
"Looks like someone's in love." He whispered, careful that the duke wouldn't hear him.  
"What? No I'm not!" Remus exclaimed before lowering his voice. "Lady Dora is very pleasant, but I'm not in love with her. She's nobility!"  
"And?" Sirius asked, smirking. "So am I. Did that stop me from becoming your best friend?" Remus knew it was rhetoric, but he shook his head nevertheless. "You even calls her Dora instead of her full name! And if that's what worries you, I have got no problems with you fancying my little cousin."

Remus sighed, knowing he could not persuade Sirius that that wasn't the case, so he turned his attention to the young duke. Duke Benedict Arrington was only a few years older than them – he had taken over the title and responsibility of one of Gryffindor's key cities when his father died two years prior and was now eighteen years old. He was also one of the more neutral nobles when it came to Remus – he didn't appreciate that the prince and his friends had a commoner as best friend, but he didn't mind it either.  
"Milord." Remus bowed politely. "I trust you have an enjoyable evening?"  
"Mr Lupin." Lord Arrington nodded back. "I have, thank you."  
Remus mostly listened when the lords spoke, and gave them his opinion a few times, but used the time to study the people around him. He had been told he was a little paranoid sometimes, but since it was pretty much his job to protect his friends from their own stupidity and from all outer threats, for example making them notice when they was angering the villagers in the villages they visited incognito, when they left the royal guards behind them he didn't think anyone could blame him.

Suddenly he saw something that made him thank his paranoia. One of the representatives of Slytherin really acted suspiciously. He seemed to search for something, and suddenly Remus realized what it was. He saw the man's gaze get caught on James who was walking through the crowd toward his cousin, Catelyn – the youngest daughter of King Fleamont's youngest sibling Kaelyn who married a Hogwartian noble. Remus saw the older noble drag something out from his pocket, something that the light reflected in then it was caught in it. Without even thinking he began to run toward James on the same time as the noble began to lift his arm.

 _No. No. No._ Was all Remus could think before he threw himself on James and overbalancing his friend so they both fell to the ground. Suddenly he felt a horrible pain in his side, only a few inches beneath his lungs.  
" _What the…?!_ " James yelled as they fell but immediately became silent when Remus screamed.  
" _Remus_!" James cried when he saw his friend lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Remus weakly raised his arm and pointed toward the Slytherin.  
"Lord Dolohov." He whispered before everything became black.

* * *

 _28 Mars 14.05_  
Black. Everything was black. He couldn't really remember anything. Just that he couldn't see something and that he felt… hollow. Like he was drugged or something.  
It was a bit like floating. Kind of celestial. Like he was there but yet not. He could hear something in the background, like a murmur. The voices sounded familiar, but he couldn't place them. He thought he heard his name once and moved slightly, before he felt a prick and everything disappeared once again.

* * *

 _29 Mars 11.54_  
The voices came back. They were louder now, and he could hear motion. He wondered where he was and tried to move his arm, only to find that he was unable to do it more than an inch or so. But when he did a familiar voice was heard.  
"Doctor Banes! He's moving! I think he's waking up!" Sirius. It was Sirius, one of his best friends. He succeeded to open his eyes slightly for a second and saw three worried faces lean over him before someone shooed them away. An adult man. Then he didn't have the strength to keep them open.  
The man – the doctor apparently – was talking to him, but he couldn't focus on what the man was saying. He had to know something.  
"Is James okay?" he succeeded to say before feeling completely exhausted after that little effort. Something that sounded like a snort was heard.  
"You just got stabbed, and you want to know if I am okay? You are a real lunatic, Remus. Yes, I am okay. But if you had not pushed me away I would probably be dead. Thank you."  
Remus smiled slightly before falling back into unconsciousness.

* * *

 _30 Mars 16.11_  
His eyes flew open. It was reflexively and he didn't even think about doing it. But they were open and he saw the faces of his friend, first shocked and then relieved.  
"Remus! You are awake!" Peter cried in relief and he was immediately surrounded by people. His friends – except Peter also James and Sirius – and his parents. He saw a servant run out from the room but didn't think about why. Then a man who looked like a doctor showed up from the corner of the room and he looked relieved.  
"Thanks Merlin you woke up, Mr Lupin. I was beginning to wonder if you would. You have been out for almost three days - in the beginning thanks to the pain relieving drugs but we stopped giving them to you yesterday."  
Remus smiled toward the doctor, who looked Hufflepuffian, and then toward his parents and friends. His parents both looked like they had been crying, and the three nobles had wrinkles of worry in their whole faces but were smiling.

After a while and a lot of fussing from everyone in the room the doors opened and the king and queen stepped in. They both looked relieved and very grateful when they looked at Remus.  
"Oh, thank goodness you are okay." The king exclaimed. "It was a very brave thing you did, Remus. You saved James' life."  
Remus felt himself blushing.  
"Your majesty… it was nothing. I did not think, I acted reflexively."  
"That only makes it better, Remus." Queen Euphemia said gently, smiling. "That you protected our son without a thought. But we are so relieved you are okay."

Remus didn't know what to say, so he was quiet instead, waiting for them to continue or anyone else to say something.  
"You must get a reward, of course." King Fleamont said and Remus' eyes widened.  
"I do not need anything, your majesty. I have already got anything I could wish for."  
"Oh, Remus. Do not be so modest. You must get a reward for saving the crown prince after all. That is how it works."  
"But…"  
The queen silenced him with a gesture.  
"We have discussed it, and we have decided to knight you and make you a part of James' personal guard."

The Lupins gasped. That couldn't be true.  
"But… it is against the law, your majesty. I am not a noble, and a commoner cannot be a knight." Remus protested. He didn't deserve such an honour for helping a friend. Everyone would have done it.  
"Oh, hush. I am not an autocratic monarch for nothing, Remus. You know I do not have to follow the laws." The king said. "No protests. As soon as you are healthy enough for it we will make you a knight."  
Remus nodded meekly.  
"Th-thank you, your majesties. I-I am honoured."  
The king and queen smiled kindly and stayed to talk a little more before leaving to attend some important matters.

 _Two months later, 15.40_  
"Do you, Remus John Lupin, swear to live by the Knights' Codex, to protect those lesser and weaker than you and to fight for your king, prince and kingdom?" King Fleamont's voice echoed through the Great Hall of Gryffindale's royal castle.  
"I swear." Remus answered from his kneeling position on the floor, feeling the tip of a sword on his shoulder. He was dressed in a knight's tunic, with a symbol of a wolf on his breast. It would be his symbol as a knight – the wolf.  
"Do you swear to protect your king, your queen and your prince with your life?"  
"I swear."  
"And do you swear to remain loyal to the Kingdom of Gryffindor to the day you die?"  
"I swear."  
"Then rise, Sir Remus John Lupin, knight of the royal forces and member of the prince's personal guard."

Remus rose to his feet and bowed to the king, to the queen and to the prince, before the king handled him the sword he held. It was a simple thing, a blade of iron and a handle of tree and leather. On the handle the symbol of the wolf was seen. He took the sword with another bow and turned to the audience. His parents, stood in the front row and smiled and clapped their hands quickly and loudly. Sirius and Peter stood in their own tunics with their personal symbols; a dog and a rat, together with the other knights and they cheered the loudest of them all. But one face caught his gaze. In the rows in the middle a smiling young lady stood in a purple dress. She applauded and smiled with her whole face and Remus smiled back. He didn't know why, but the fact that Lady Dora was there and smiled to him felt better than the fact that he now was not a commoner who had had the luck to befriend a prince and two nobles - a charity project (he knew he wasn't but he also knew quite a few thought of him like it), but a knight. That he finally belonged.

* * *

 _19.00_

 **In the king and queen's chambers.**

"Slytherin's emperor demands that we will send the assassins back to him for proper punishment." The king said heavily to his wife. She nodded and stroked his cheek.  
"I know, love. I doubt they will punish them for trying to assassin our son, but I am sure they _will_ get punishment."  
King Fleamont sighed.  
"Yes. For not succeeding to kill him and creating chaos in our kingdom. What shall I do?"  
"Send them back. They will get punished - probably more cruelly than we can do without risking getting a war declaration if we didn't send them back, and at least Slytherin will not be able to lay the blame for a possible war on us. We will still have our allies."  
"You are right as usual, 'Phemia."  
"Of course." She smiled and kissed him.

* * *

 **Review!**

 **I suppose you noticed, but I took the liberty to change Dora's age. She is now only one year younger than the Marauders. Which also means that I made Andromeda and Ted older.**

 **Well, next chapter will be the actual story that will begin. I hope you'll like it, and I also hope I used the old words for "you" and "yours" right. :)**

 **Bye!**


	5. Chapter III: Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own this story.**

* * *

She blindly ran down to the stables, not even looking up towards the window that had a long rope of sheets hanging from it, the window to 'her' room. It was raining, violently, which was good because it meant that the guards had a much harder time to see her. She thanked the gods that they had let her keep her trousers and capes when she moved in here, so she could take care of the horses. Hurrying down the path she didn't care that she already was soaked, and freezing. She only cared that she had to get away from here.

Reaching the stables she looked into the window to make sure that no guards were in there, which they weren't, before locking up the door and walking in to Domino Effect, her blue roan stallion. He wasn't of any of the more noble races, but he was kind, durable and intelligent. She stroked his muzzle and dragged the body brush over his back quickly so he wouldn't get sore before saddling him and leading him outside in the rain.  
" _Shhhh_. Calm down." She soothed when he recoiled from the violent rain before practically forcing him outside. Normally she would take her time to make sure that Domino understood that it wasn't dangerous, but she didn't have that time right now. Any time they could realize that she wasn't in her room like she was supposed to be.  
After some moments the stallion stopped fighting her, trusting that she knew what she was doing, and she sat up. She urged him into a gallop and pulled the reins to the left, steering the horse towards Fenfire River. She was planning to follow the river to the coast, and from there follow the coast to Surrey's only harbour town: Cokeworth, her childhood home, and from there travel to Gryffindor and find a job.

She urged on Domino a little bit more, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hold this speed very long, but her horse was well trained and so was she. They just had to get away a little bit longer.

" _Lily is gone!"_ Lily smirked when she heard her sister's cry. Petunia had yelled so high that she could hear her even though she was already quite a bit away, before hurrying on Domino one last time. Soon the guards would be after her.

* * *

 **That was a short one. Really. It's kind of a prologue since I now will begin the actual story. But I hope I caught your interest. Tell me! :)**

 **I hope it will be better than the last chapter because it seems like either no one read it - but I know people did because the views increased - or everyone hated it. But still, tell me if you did too and tell me why so I can be better the next time.**


	6. Chapter IV: Robbers and rescues

**Disclaimer: Any names and places or themes you recognize don't belong to me. Everything else does.**

 **16 years old**  
It was a peaceful day in the Autumn Forest. It was late summer and the animals were feeding themselves up or saving food up for the winter and a squirrel sat on the forest path, collecting the nuts that had fallen down there. A hare ran over the path and a fox was prowling around, searching for its next prey.

But suddenly the peace was disturbed and the squirrel's ears perked up, searching for the origin of the new loud sound. From the distance he noticed something that sounded like hooves in full speed and the smell of horse and human reached him.  
The sound of galloping hooves became stronger and stronger and shouts were heard. The squirrel escaped from the path and climbed up a tree and a scared deer with a fawn ran their way. Suddenly all the animals fled when four big, beautiful horses came thundering through the forest and the boys onto their backs yelled to each other to go faster, faster.

The horses were, as already said, beautiful. They were a slender new race, a mix between Gryffindorian Full bloods and Helga Valley horses from Hufflepuff – two of the best horses that existed. The new race's name hadn't been decided just yet, but people thought about naming them Phoenix, after the bay that partly parted the kingdoms – even though Gryffindor owned most of the land on the other side too.  
The saddles and bridles weren't decorated and were only simple brown or black leather, but it was easy to see that they were the highest quality. The boys, or young men, who were riding the horses had clothes in the same style: they were simple white shirts, black or brown trousers and leather boots, but all of them were made by the kingdom of Gryffindor's best craftsmen. All four boys also bore weapons. In their belts swords and knives rested and one of them carried a stringed longbow and arrows on his back.  
One of the black-haired boys came first. He rode a black sabino-coloured stallion. Second came a boy with brown hair, riding a black appaloosa-coloured mare. Third came another black haired boy on a dapper grey mare and last came another boy with brown hair, but his was more mouse-brown rather than golden brown like the first one. His horse was a stallion, red roan-coloured.

* * *

They urged on the horses and the first man laughed loudly, which made the other ones join in on the laughter.  
"Hurry up, Padfoot!" he shouted as the brown-haired boy began to get closer and began to ride past him. "We cannot let Moony win again!"  
The boy with the bow got closer and closer to the leading rider and the other three urged their horses on in an attempt to get first or keep the first position.  
'Padfoot' laughed loudly as his mare began to reduce the distance between him and the two first riders meanwhile the last rider didn't make any tries to get past the other three, but urged his horse on so he would keep up with his friends.  
The brown-haired man called 'Moony' smacked his lips and leaned closer to the horse's throat, standing up higher in the saddle, in a try to go even faster so he would get past his friend. It was only a hundred meters left to the goal: the Red Lake. It was called so because of the algae and animal life that coloured it red during autumn – just like the leaves turned the forest red and orange.

"Go on, Galaxy. Just a little faster and we will beat Prongs and Mad."  
Galaxy ran a little faster and they began to reach Mad. They reached Mad's tail, and then the saddle. The rider cast them a gaze before trying to get his own horse to go faster, but to no avail. Remus smirked in triumph as he rode past Mad's throat and head. He was half a horse before Mad when suddenly a scream was heard.  
The scream was loud and shrill, probably from a woman. The four riders dragged their reins so quickly that the horses had to go up on their hind legs to avoid running into each other.

"What was that?" The last man asked.  
"A woman, Peter." One of the black haired said and rolled his eyes. Peter rolled his eyes too, too used to his friends to point out so obvious things for him so he didn't even care anymore.  
"I know that, Sirius." He replied.  
"Stop quarrelling, you two." The other black haired said. "It sounded like she's in need of help. What do you say, Remus?"  
"I quite agree, James. We really should see what is happening."

The other three nodded and they turned their horses toward the way that the scream had been heard. They urged them on and hurried toward the forest. They could obviously not keep the high speed since they now rode through the real forest and not on a path, but these horses were bred to being able to go everywhere and in good speed. These horses were mostly bred for war and war-games, because Gryffindor was a nation with a strong militia, and Hufflepuff knew that they also had to be ready for war since they were one of the Five Big Nations and could be threatened any day. Plus, they would obviously fight alongside their allies if they needed help, but the horses were good for almost everything except things like forest work or farming – not that any forest-worker or farmer would ever be able to afford one.

* * *

They hurried towards the direction of the scream and heard small shouts now and then. After a few minutes they reached the hill in front of one of the forest's glens. They got off the horses, tied them up and sneaked up on the hill to see what was happening.  
Down the hill, in the glen, the first thing they saw was three men, probably robbers that lived in the forest, a horse, and lastly, a woman that was trying to get away from one of the men. He held her arms in a steady grip and had a knife to her throat. Strangely enough she didn't look afraid, only angry and a bit condescending.  
"Let. Go. Of. Me!" The woman spat, trying to wrestle her arms out of the dirty robber's grip. He looked quite annoyed and tired with her.  
"Now, sweetheart. Just dah ahs we sayh and no hone 'ill get hurt."  
The woman screamed again and tried to tear her arms away from him.

The men, who were known as The Marauders in the kingdom and especially the royal castle, began to slowly drag their weapons when the man suddenly placed his left hand on the woman's breast and tried to get her down on the ground. She screamed again, this time more in fear than wrath, and the young men's eyes got wide. James heard a sound that sounded like a bowstring and the next moment an arrow sank into the robber's chest. When he looked to his right Remus stood there with his bow, already placing another arrow on the string.

Remus nodded to them. He would cover them if they needed it. The other three men dragged their swords and soon they stood down in the glen.  
"Leave the lady alone." Sirius said with a low voice, but the threatening tone rang through the glen like he had shouted it. Sirius could be a real Ladies' man, and a heartbreaker, but if there was one thing he hated – except his family – it was people who forced themselves on weaker individuals.

The robbers grinned mockingly and got out their own weapons. There were one less of the robbers than of them – two if you counted Remus but he was hidden so they didn't see him – but they were a lot bigger and probably thought this would be an easy victory. Oh, how wrong they were. The boys had been trained by the best swordsmen in the Known World and James, Sirius and Remus had been able to beat their trainers for a while now. The only reason Remus wasn't down here too was that he was the best one with a bow if the worst would happen – not that it was likely at all.

They were right. When the robbers attacked the men were ready and within minutes they had their sword tips pointed to the chest or throat of the robbers.  
"Surrender." Was all James said and the robbers, just like all of their kind, were deep down real cowards and now when they knew that the young men weren't the walkovers they thought they immediately gave up. Remus came down from the hill with some rope he always had with him when they were in the forest – you never knew what would happen, especially not when you competed with two insane men that also happened to be part of the absolute ruler class of the Known World – and tied them up to a tree.  
The young woman, who had been busy calming her blue roan coloured horse down, had finally succeeded now when the alarm of battle had died down and she turned to them, staring, but seemingly not afraid. The four men walked up to her and bowed curtly.  
"Are you okay, miss?" Remus asked with a slight worried tone.

"Yes." The woman answered. James was forced to admit that she was extremely beautiful. "Thank you. But I could've handled myself. I'm not a damsel in need of saving."  
James and Sirius snorted and Remus had to resist the urge to hit them both when they did so. The woman glared at them.  
"What's so funny?" she asked icily. The black haired men looked amused.  
"Come on." James said. "Firstly, you didn't exactly look like you could handle yourself. Who knows what would've happened if we hadn't been here?"  
Sirius nodded agreeing.  
"And secondly, you're a woman. Of course you're in need of saving."  
She seemed speechless for a moment before her green eyes began to spark with anger and she raised her hand and gave Sirius' a box on the ear, hard.  
"How dare you?" She spat furiously. "Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't do anything a man can! The only reason I wasn't able to fight them off by myself is that in difference to you, I haven't got any training!"  
"Aha!" James exclaimed and smirked. "So you admit that you needed saving?"  
She almost screamed and simply turned her back to them and put her foot in the stirrup. First now they realized she didn't wear a dress, but trousers. Real trousers, for men, not those ridiculous things they had created for women to ridicule those who wanted to wear trousers instead of skirts. They all almost winced in surprise, but Remus caught himself in time.

He took a grip on the woman's arm to stop her, but immediately released it when he realized he was being improper.  
"I apologize for my friends, miss." He said with an embarrassed smile. "Please ignore them."  
"Hey!" Came from both James and Sirius.  
"Is there anything we can do to help you?" he continued without taking notice. "Do you know the way to Gryffindale? I've never seen your horse in the stables so if you're on your way there you must probably have never been there before. Is there anything you need?"  
She seemed to hesitate but then smiled toward Remus even though she still seemed angry at James and Sirius. Peter hadn't said anything so she didn't care much about him right now.  
"Very well." She said and threw her red braid over her shoulder. "No, I've never been in Gryffindale before, but that's where I'm going, yes. I would appreciate if you could show me the way, sir."  
Remus smiled.  
"Let us just go fetch our horses."  
She nodded and the Marauders walked uphill again. Remus glared at them and told them to stop being rude. Helping someone out of trouble didn't mean they had the right to talk like that. They would never do it to the court's ladies.

"But the ladies of the court know that they're not supposed to be the heroes, which she doesn't seem to think." Peter defended them. "A woman is the Damsel in Distress, and the man is the Knight in Shining Armour. Not the other way around."  
Sirius threw out his arm.  
"Exactly! What Wormy said!"  
"Just don't offend her, okay?" Remus said plainly, daring them to disagree. After a moment they nodded sourly.  
"Okay."  
"Good. Now, let's fetch the horses."  
After taking the horses and leading them down into the glen they made themselves ready to sit up when they heard the woman gasp. She was staring at the horses in astonishment.

"They're so beautiful. I've never seen that race before. What are the race called?" She jumped off her own horse, which she had sat up on while they were gone, and told the horse to "Stay" before walking up to them. James smiled. Finally someone who knew to appreciate fine horses, even though she was only a commoner and a woman – who he would probably never see again. Remus was very appreciating that he was allowed to ride these horses and he liked his own a lot, but he didn't love horses, and Sirius and Peter both mostly thought of horses as the quickest way of transportation ashore, even though they too liked their own horses.

"They're new, so their race don't actually have a name yet. Most likely right now it's Phoenix horses, but who knows what the lords will decide? A crossing between Helga Valley horses and Gryffindorian Full bloods."  
For a short moment she seemed to forget that she didn't like James as she stretched out her hand and allowed Mad to smell her before petting Mad underneath her mane. But then her own horse neighed and she seemed to remember. She cast James an angry gaze and petted Mad once more before turning her back to him and sat up on her own horse.

* * *

Remus said that they better be off and they began to ride the way back to the capital. James and Sirius rode in front, with Peter coming after and then Remus and the woman rode behind them. They were quiet for a while even though James, Sirius and Peter were chatting in the front row before Remus got tired of it.  
"May I ask, miss, what your name is? My name is Remus Lupin, and that is James, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew."  
If she wondered why he didn't give her a surname for James or if she recognized any of the names she didn't show it but bit her lip before nodding.  
"I suppose. I'm Lily, daughter of the late Aaron and Rose Evans – horse trainers in Surrey. This is Domino Effect." She petted the horse's shoulder.  
"I give you my condolences, Miss Evans. I'm sorry." Remus told her when he heard that her parents were dead. She smiled slightly.  
"Don't be, Mr Lupin. They died years ago. I've lived with my sister and her husband until now when I decided to come here instead."  
Her tone indicated that she didn't want to talk about it, so Remus decided to let it be. They talked quietly, trying not to get James and Sirius' attention again and they succeeded almost all the way out of the forest.

"So, Miss Evans," Sirius said – apparently they had heard what they had been talking about "what are you planning on doing when we come to Gryffindale?"  
Lily shrugged but got something hard in her gaze when she looked at Sirius.  
"A friend of mine knew some people there that could give me a job, so I will find them and take it."  
Sirius nodded.  
"Who are these people, then? Perhaps we could help you find them, miss."  
Lily snorted and her glaring intensified.  
"No thank you, good sir." She said spitefully. "I think I can manage by myself."  
Sirius shrugged and began to talk to Peter about the coming tournament instead. All of the nobles would be in it, they had finally reached the age when they were allowed to; sixteen. James and Sirius were very excited but Peter was mostly scared – he wasn't as good with the weapons as his friends. Remus was a little worried about him, but knew that James and Sirius could handle themselves. He would actually too be allowed to participate. After all, he was the only one of the kingdom's knights that wasn't a noble and one of the few in the entire Known World. He wasn't sure whether he would or not, though. He was skilled, very much so, but those who partook in these competitions were the elite of Gryffindor, and with that the Known World since they were a nation of warriors much more than the other countries. This tournaments was organised so young knights would get a clue of whether they should compete in the Great Tournaments or not. Remus noticed that Sirius and Peter carefully avoided anything that could sound like they would participate now when Lily was there. Probably they had noticed that she didn't seem to know who they actually were, and wanted to keep it that way.

They reached the glen of the forest, and the city of Gryffindale, capital of the Kingdom of Gryffindor, towered over them. The royal castle was seen in all its splendour and grandeur and the buildings closer to it paraded over the city too. The closer to the castle you came, the more beautiful the city became. Closest to them were the poor parts of the city, but they weren't seen since the buildings were low and the wall surrounding the city was grand. After all, it was supposed to protect the city against all kind of dangers; war, plunderers from the sea or the forest and whatever else that could threaten them. The city actually had another city wall inside the town, to protect the richer parts. It began where most of the merchants lived and stored their goods. That wall was for protecting everything they could need to survive a siege, so the poorer and "unimportant" quarters weren't inside that wall. They could get through, sure, but the poorest weren't allowed to live in there. Of course the guards protected the outer wall and the poor just as well, and there was even more soldiers down here, but the rich and the nobility were the ones who would be most safe in the case of war. Even though why would they kill the poor? The nobles were in most danger too, since they held the power. And obviously the poor would be taken inside the second wall if possible if the enemy began to get through. Actually they were taken inside the second wall as soon as possible and in as far as possible when an attack began.

* * *

Lily gasped when she saw it and all of the four boys smirked. Remus remembered when he had seen the city the first time. It had been from the ocean, so it had been even more magnificent. James, Sirius and Peter though – especially James since this was his city – was probably just happy that she was impressed. Hard not to be. Gryffindale was one of the most beautiful cities in the world together with a few other cities in the other four Great Nations and with Gryffindor's second biggest port town: Avalerion. The most beautiful city in the world, though, was known to be Diagon – the capital of Hufflepuff, since the Hufflepuffs were the ones that most appreciated beauty and art. Ravenclaw wasn't too far behind. Slytherin also really liked those kinds of things, and so did Hogwarts. Gryffindor was probably one of the Great Nations that was the least interested in beauty and focused more on the militia and different alliances. They hadn't declared a war for two hundred years, but the Gryffindorian government always wanted to be ready to defend the country from foes and to keep their inferior countries inferior to them, such as Surrey and Ministeria – even though Ministeria was mostly Slytherin's, they still obeyed Gryffindor too.

"It's a beautiful sight, isn't it?" Remus smiled. "The first time I saw it was from a ship, but even from land it's a wonderful sight. But you should see Diagon. Gryffindale is nothing compared to them."  
James frowned and to most people he would look serious, but Remus knew him well and could easily see that he was only bluffing.  
"I don't know, Moony. That might count as high treason."  
Remus laughed loudly.  
"Oh, come on Prongs. You've seen Diagon. You can say whatever you want about Hufflepuffs, but you can't say that they aren't extremely adept in architecture."  
James grinned and shrugged. He couldn't anything else than agree. It really was a beautiful city. They followed the wall to the grand gate where two guards stood on guard. But it was the middle of the day on a market day and people were always let in during the day, so there was no trouble or need to tell anyone about their identities to get into the city. The poor parts weren't around the gate; so far, Lily had only seen the beautiful parts of the city.

Peter turned on his horse and looked at Lily.  
"Where was it that you will meet them?"  
Lily looked apprehensive, but since it was Peter and not James or Sirius she answered reluctantly.  
"The Three Broomsticks."  
The four boys began to grin. It was their favourite pub in the entire country – most people's actually. They told Lily this.  
"They've got this drink, butterbeer, which you can't find in any other place, and it's fantastic." Peter said enthusiastically and his three friends nodded, agreeing. "You must try it when you go there."

Lily nodded and promised she would and they made their way through the city. Luckily the four boys knew almost all the smaller streets, so they didn't have to try to get through the market and all the people there. Some of them were less nice, but at least quick routes. Soon they stood outside a pub which had a sign with three broomsticks on it. Lily supposed this was the pub, and she was right.  
"That's the Three Broomsticks." Peter said and pointed. She nodded. "You can tie your horse up on the backside of the pub, but you should probably have someone show you the way to the stables. There's only one place where you can have a horse inside the city, and that's the royal stables. It costs a copper for a week. A silver if it's permanently. I think you can pay with coppers until you get a silver and then get back your coppers when you pay with the silver."

Lily looked a little worried, probably because of the price, but nodded again. She didn't have much choice if she didn't want to sell her horse.  
They all got off their horses before Lily did, because a gentleman didn't sit down when a woman was standing – and that includes horses (except if she's watching him ride or if he's on his way somewhere or something like that). She scoffed and seemed to think they were ridiculous, but smiled toward Remus.  
They didn't bowed low, hardly more than bowing their heads, and she nodded before leading her horse in the way they had pointed her.

"Thank you." She said. "Have a nice day."  
"You're welcome, miss." Remus answered with a smile. "We wish you luck."  
She disappeared behind the pub and the four Marauders sat up on their horses again and made their way back to the castle, not thinking much about the redhead, being too caught up in the thought of the coming tournament. They would likely never see her again, so why bother?

* * *

 **Well, now the story is getting closer to be what it will be... Lily is introduced! :) And the boys have grown a little bit since the last time.  
What did you think? Did I keep Lily in character? **

**Have a nice day!** **  
**


	7. Chapter V: Escape

**Disclaimer: I own no recognizable characters nor places or names. I do own the story.**

Sirius was sitting in his favourite armchair in the Black family library, reading an adventure novel in an attempt to escape the fact that he was 'home' in Grimmauld. There was about two places on the entire estate he liked, and those two places were his chambers and the library – even though it was dark and gloomy just like the rest of the house. At least it had one of the biggest collections of books in Gryffindor. Luckily reading was one of the few of his favourite occupations that his parents didn't disapprove of. And even though they would've preferred that he didn't read fictional books they actually had decided to let him be, which was a small wonder. It was the only thing Sirius could come up with that his parents had leaved him to do as he wanted about, ever. Everything else he did was heavily controlled when he was at the estate. As he finished a chapter he put the book away for a moment and rang the bell that was standing on the table next to him, and the family's most loyal servant, their butler Mr Kreacher, came in.

Mr Kreacher and Sirius had disliked, even hated, each other as long as Sirius could remember, but it seemed like the grumpy butler had been the servant that was the closest when he rang the bell and he had sworn an oath to serve the House of Black until the day he died, so he didn't have much choice other than to come when the Heir called. Kreacher bowed for the oldest son of the house, and his future master.  
"What does young master wish?" He asked, with a tone just above rudeness. Had it been just slightly worse Sirius could've had Kreacher punished if he wanted to, even though his mother wouldn't have liked that. Kreacher had served the family since Lady Black was a young child and the lady of the house seemed to almost love the old butler – insofar she was capable of loving.  
"I would very much appreciate some tea, Mr Kreacher." Sirius said, in the exact same tone. "If you could send one of the maids to get it for me…"  
It might sound like a question but it obviously was an order. This was the way Sirius was taught to talk to the servants his parents valued. The lower servants, on the other hand, he could talk to however he wanted as long as he was dignified.  
"Of course, milord." Kreacher replied with a sickly sweet tone. "Anything else?"  
"No, that is all, Mr Kreacher. You may leave."  
Kreacher bowed once again and backed out of the room – the servants were under no circumstances to turn their backs toward the Blacks, not even Mr Kreacher. Sirius suspected his parents would punish the servants for turning their backs to a member of the Family even if it was a fire and the servant had run for its life.

Sirius returned to his novel and was in the middle of a dangerous escape as someone knocked on the door of the library. With a sigh he teared his grey eyes away from the page and looked up toward the door.  
"Come in." He said, just high enough for the person on the other side to hear. Soon the massive dark brown oak door opened and one of the maids – Sophia, Sirius thought she was named – came in. She held a silver tray with a teapot and a tea cup on and curtseyed deeply. Sophia stayed down until Sirius waved to her to stand again. She carefully approached him, waiting for any signs that he thought that she came too close for a servant.  
Luckily for her Sirius wasn't like his relatives. Sure that he did have a hard time seeing most servants as other things than pets (he didn't see people like that because they were commoners, but simply because they were servants and were just around all the time without people noticing them) – the Lupins being the exceptions since he had grown up with Remus being his friend and when they met they hadn't been servants – but he wouldn't kick a dog that came too close to him, so why would he punish a servant for it? Even though it actually was more likely that he would punish a servant than a dog. He loved dogs.

She placed the tray on the table and waited for him to give new orders, straight back and head bowed, just like Lady Black liked her servants.  
"Thank you, Sophia." Sirius said, and she looked up at him for a moment in shock over that he knew her name, before quickly looking down again. "You can go."  
She quickly left the room and Sirius poured out the tea before returning to his book. He succeeded to read another three chapters and had just gotten out of the most thrilling part when there was a knock on the door another time.  
"What is it now?" he wondered to himself before allowing them to come in. In the door Mr Kreacher stood once again.  
"Yes, Mr Kreacher?"  
"Their Graces request for milord's immediate presence in the small parlour."  
Sirius sighed and nodded. He knew it was an order, not a request. What did they want now? He longed for the next time he would go to Gryffindale. It felt like an eternity, the next time he would be allowed to was for the annual Knights' Ball in a month. He had been at Grimmauld for two weeks, but it felt like two years. And to make things worse, his cousins would visit soon. Most of the indecent ones (and practically the whole House of Black), in this case Lady Bellatrix Lestrange and Lady Narcissa Malfoy, lived in Slytherin so luckily they didn't visit too often. His only decent cousin, Lady Andromeda Tonks, had been disowned after she ran away to marry a simple count in Hufflepuff. He had only seen her a few times in his life, but she had a daughter only a year or two younger than him. Nymphadora, he thought she was named. Apparently his dear cousin wanted to keep up the Black tradition of giving children the most ridiculous names. He was grateful he didn't get anything worse than Sirius. In fact, he actually liked his name. A decent name, a place in the hierarchy, an education and the possibility to meet James was everything his parents had ever given him. Everything else good had come from the royal family. It was thanks to them he had friends, knew what love meant and hadn't gone insane in dark Grimmauld.

Sirius closed the book and placed it next to the teapot before allowing Kreacher to 'escort' him to the small parlour. Not that it was small, but it was the smallest they had in the manor house.  
In there a few servants stood lined up next to the wall, ready to follow the lords or the lady's smallest wish. Lords, because not only his father, Lord Orion Black II, was in there, but his little brother Regulus II too. Sirius had hardly said a word to Regulus for years, they stopped talking when Sirius was nine and Regulus eight, when the younger Black brother began to think that the older had betrayed him and the Family for his friends and the royals.  
Sirius bowed deeply for his parents as he entered the room. He had no respect for them at all, but knew that if he didn't show respect he was in for it.  
"Mother. Father." He said. "Regulus." He added after a moment, voice like ice.

"Come in, Sirius." Lady Black ordered and Sirius immediately obeyed. He had gotten obedience beaten into him at a young age, so it was a reflex to do as his parents told him. Mostly at least; the few times he refused when he thought they went over the line he had gotten severely punished.  
Sirius took his usual place in his armchair next to the fireplace and waited quietly for his parents to speak. He hated it.  
Luckily, or maybe unfortunately, he didn't have to wait for long today.

"We have decided that it is time for you to settle down and provide heirs to the Family. We are getting enough of you running around and being irresponsible together with the prince and your low-born friends." Lady Black stated and Sirius frowned. She couldn't mean…? But he was only sixteen!  
"Mother?" he asked tentatively.  
"You are going to marry Lady Alecto Carrow in two months." Lord Black stated coldly. Sirius stared at his parents for a few moments, unable to comprehend. Sure, it was legal to marry before seventeen – you could legally do it as soon as you had turned fifteen and become a man or woman – but no one did that. It was forbidden by all social rules. After a while he got back his ability to speak and react.

" _What_?!" he practically shouted and stood up so quickly that the massive armchair rocketed. "I cannot marry! And really not cousin Alecto! She is terrible!"

The Carrow twins were the children of the Duke of Emerald City, one of Slytherin's most important cities, and Sirius' mother's cousin's children. And both Alecto and Amycus were truly horrible. They were two years older than Sirius (marrying an older woman was also something unthinkable in society. A younger woman, definitely, but not older) and had tormented the Black brothers during visits when they were younger. When Sirius had grown older he had refused to accept it, but they still took every chance to do it. It wasn't strange she wasn't married yet. Normally women with high places in the hierarchy married as soon as they reached seventeen, but Alecto was eighteen and hadn't married yet, even though she was the daughter of a duke. Because who would want to marry someone that atrocious? And his parents would make him marry her? No way in Hell.

"Be quiet and sit down, son." Lord Black threatened. He only ever called Sirius son when it was a threat. But this time Sirius wouldn't obey his father.  
"No! I will not marry that witch! Nothing can change my mind." Sirius refused. He might've been able to handle this a little more diplomatically if he hadn't been so upset, but then again, no matter how many lessons he got, diplomacy wasn't Sirius strong side. That was something all of his friends were better at. And nothing he said could ever change the Blacks' minds anyway.

Suddenly Sirius was practically thrown back into his armchair by the force of the blow that hit his cheek. For a second it blackened his eyes and he couldn't feel anything, but then his cheek began to hurt.  
" _Show some respect._ " Lady Black hissed and yelled at the servants to get out, and they all hurriedly complied, frightened of Lady Black's wrath. In a few ways Walburga and Sirius Black were quite alike, for example they both got mad very easily, but that was about it. Sirius would never admit any other resemblances than such things.

"Why?" Sirius spat, knowing he was being really stupid but unable to stop himself. He would not marry Alecto, even if he had to die to stop it. And right now the risk was quite high. "You never show me any."  
Another hit and Sirius' head hit the back of the chair. He heard a small gasp come from Regulus, but he didn't have time to focus.  
"I will not marry Alecto, you evil hag." Sirius stared her straight into her eyes before turning to his father. "Nothing you say can change my mind. You can beat me as much as you want to."  
Lord Black stared back, looking completely unimpressed.  
"We will see about that."

What followed was the worst beating in Sirius' entire life. After only a few moments he wasn't able to hold back his screams, even though he normally succeeded at least for a few minutes. After a while Lord Black forced his shirt of him and took the great horsewhip that hung next to the fireplace and used it on Sirius. When it was finally over Sirius was almost unconscious, his parents had refused to let him fall into the luscious void during the beating, and lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. Lord and Lady Black swept impassively past their oldest son and heir that was lying on the floor and waved the pale Regulus with them.

"When you have changed your mind about marrying Lady Alecto, come to my study" was all Lord Black said before leaving the room together with his family.  
Sirius sobbed where he was lying and tried to get on his feet, but was unable to move.

* * *

After about twenty minutes he had succeeded to find enough strength to pull himself on his feet. He couldn't stay here. He would not marry Alecto, especially not now. He would not let them win. He shred a part of his shirt and wrapped it around his worst wounds before dragging himself to the window. He was on the third level of the house. Taking a deep breath of air, or at least as deep as he could right now, he opened the window, threw his legs over the window frame and began to climb down. Normally he would've done it without any problems, he was a master climber and could climb Gryffindor Tower without any bigger problems, but right now he was so hurt so it was a real pain to do.

Sirius groaned lowly as he tried to find footing between the stones of the wall. As he found it he forced his other leg over the window frame and began to climb down. Oh, it hurt. He felt dizzy from blood loss, but knew that if he stopped climbing and stayed here he would receive more and more beatings like this until he either died or agreed to marry Alecto. And his parents would surely find a way to escape punishment for killing him, so that was not a possibility.  
Sirius swallowed some of the blood in his mouth and ignored the dizziness as he climbed toward the ground. The wonderful, wonderful ground. Sirius was not afraid of heights, normally he thought the higher the better, but right now he didn't want anything more than reaching the ground.  
As he reached the second level he lost his footing and felt how he didn't have anything beneath him but air. In a terrifying moment he thought he would fall before finding somewhere to put his feet. Suddenly he froze. The window was opening. Sirius was as still as he could, trying not to make a sound and hoping whoever it was would close the window soon.

He wasn't lucky. A pair of pale hands took a grip on the frame and someone leaned out, taking a deep breath of the fresh air. A face very much alike of his own showed up. Regulus. Sirius prayed that his little brother wouldn't look to his side and see him, because he would without a doubt alert their parents. Again, he wasn't lucky. Regulus winced and seemed to see something in the corner of his eye and he looked toward Sirius. His eyes widened when he saw his older brother there, clinging desperately to the wall. Sirius felt almost ready to cry, something he hadn't done for years. His mother had beaten the crying out of him at the age of six, telling him that a Black did not cry.

"Please, Reggie, please" Sirius begged, using the nickname for Regulus he had used when they were young and their parents wn't there "I can't marry Alecto. I can't."  
Regulus stared at him, never having heard his brother beg before (except begging for their parents to 'stop, please, just stop, I promise to be good!'), and not knowing how to react. After a moment he shook his head and Sirius felt his heart stop before his little brother smiled slightly, a very small smile but still there.  
"I will not tell them. I do not wish to have Alecto as my sister-in-law anyway. Go on, go to the stables and take Diaval and ride to the capital. I will try to keep Mother and Father busy. But if you get caught, I did not see you, okay?"  
Sirius nodded, feeling relief flooding him.  
"Understood. Thank you. Thank you."  
Regulus nodded sharply and closed the window again, hopefully to make sure their parents didn't look out, and Sirius continued his climb there "I can't marry Alecto. I can't."

Regulus nodded sharply and closed the window again, hopefully to make sure their parents didn't look out, and Sirius continued his climb. The rest of it went a little easier, especially as he came closer to the ground.  
Sirius was so exhausted when he reached the ground so he almost fell the last foot. But he knew he didn't have much time before anyone would see him so he forced himself to run over the garden toward the big wall. He would have to climb it too. The guards had orders not to let him out through the gate – he had more than once ran away from Grimmauld to get home to Gryffindale – so he wouldn't have a chance to reach the stables if he didn't succeed to get over the great stone wall. He had never done that before. The wall was 16 feet high and built to keep thieves away. Not like the manor house that was built to look impressive and therefore was really easy to climb.

Sirius found a part that wasn't visible from other places since it had high trees surrounding it and fixed the strips from his shirt he had wrapped around his wounds. He couldn't do anything about the lashes on his back, he couldn't reach them, but the ones on his arms and legs and head were a little fixable, at least for a while. He would need professional care when he reached the castle.

The climb was the worst yet and his whole body screamed as he reached the ground on the other side, but he didn't have time to rest more than a few seconds. Anytime now they could realize he was gone and send the guards after him. Sirius limped toward the Black Family's stables and made sure that no one was there before almost dragging himself in.  
"Milord? Are you okay?" Sirius silently cursed himself when he heard the voice of one of the stable boys that came out of Regulus' horse's stall. He hadn't seen him. Everything could get destroyed.  
"I am fine." Sirius said curtly, with a slightly threatening tone. Since this boy served the Blacks that was all that was needed for the boy not to ask any more questions. "Prepare Diaval for me and hurry up. And if anyone asks, I have not been here."  
"Yes milord. Of course, milord." The boy quickly nodded and readied the black horse extremely quickly. Sirius' own horse was in the royal stables, he did not want to risk to take Ghost home, so he would have to steal another. Diaval was Regulus' old horse; he had gotten a new one a month ago. He was a very good horse, but it had been decided that Regulus would too get one of the new Phoenix horses. After all, the favourite couldn't have an inferior to the disgrace's, even though the disgrace was the Heir.

* * *

As soon as Diaval was ready the stable boy lead him out to the stable yard and Sirius dragged himself up on the horse with sheer will power. He had almost no energy left and the dizziness was reappearing. But he put his heels into the side of the black horse and ran away in gallop from Grimmauld. He rode around the city, didn't want to risk that anyone would try to stop him. It was longer, but he didn't have any choice. Sirius felt the bandage he had put around his head fall off in the wild ride, but didn't have neither time nor intellection enough to do anything about it. It was about 6 miles to the capital from Grimmauld Estate and normally Sirius would've ridden the distance without problems, but now he was hurt and dizzy from blood loss and riding in a purely insane speed. He was standing in the saddle and gripping the horse's mane to keep himself steady since the world was beginning to spin.

He saw the castle's pinnacles and towers in the horizon when he felt that Diaval was beginning to get really exhausted. Diaval was a high quality horse and well-trained, and in a good pace he would've been able to keep going the whole day, but they were running at the highest possible speed. Had Sirius been clear in his head he would've known that he had to go slower, but as it was now, he didn't dare to. All he could think about was that he had to reach James and come home, so as Diaval began to slow down he told the horse go faster again, especially as he thought he heard someone behind him. The guards must be catching up with him. Being well-trained and obedient, Diaval did as he was told. Now blood was gliding down from the wound in his head and filling his eyes. Sirius blinked to get it away, but his sight was still grumbled with the red liquid. About a mile away from the city walls Sirius began to feel something wrong. Something felt odd about the horse's movements. Before he even could think about it he felt how the horse stumbled or just collapsed out of exhaustion and he found himself flying in the air and hitting the ground. The horse had fallen, and he had been thrown off.

"No…" Sirius mumbled, trying to find enough energy to get back on the horse only to find he couldn't even lift himself off the ground. The pain from the beating had kind of disappeared, so focused had he been on his escape, but now it returned in full force and he groaned. It felt like he would fall into pieces. "So close… so close."  
Suddenly he heard a voice and another horse neighing. He just hoped it wasn't the guards from the Black estate, because if it was he was dead. A big cloud of red appeared in his quickly decreasing field of view, just before everything went black.

"You idiot, what did you…" he heard. A woman's voice. Suddenly he recognized the face in front of him. He hadn't seen that face for three months, ever since they met her in the forest, and hadn't expected to ever see it again.  
"Miss Evans?" he weakly asked before everything turned black.

* * *

Sirius had finally left for the void. The void was the only escape he had ever had when his parents had punished him and he had always welcomed it. It was a simple way to escaping the pain. Just like always he felt grateful when he finally could slip into the black vacuity. He felt light, like he was carried, but he was probably imagining it. Most likely seeing Miss Evans earlier had too been a result of fever fantasies. His brain did strange things when he was like this. He knew, because he had been injured many times, even if never this bad. He wondered if he was dying. It felt almost like a relief. If he was dead then at least he would never have to face his parents again, neither would he have to marry Alecto. He wondered if someone would miss him if he died. Yes, James would probably. And Remus and Peter. Maybe the king and queen would too. Perhaps even the Lupin-parents. But that was probably everyone. Everything went darker and Sirius felt his last consciousness disappear, he was disappearing deeper into the void than he ever had been before, when he felt a sharp pain in his cheek.

"Don't you _dare_ die, Sirius Black." A voice came from far away, sounding angry. Miss Evans. Perhaps he hadn't imagined her being there. "Don't you dare."  
From now on, every time he felt himself floating closer to the void and the blessed non-feeling shape of it, he felt the same stinging pain and he realized she slapped him. Soon he began to fight against the void just to escape the slaps on his already bruised and wounded body. But the result was that the rest of the pain in his body became more immense too, and after a while he began to scream and toss in a worthless attempt to escape the anguish. A familiar dark voice was heard, but he couldn't place it. It felt like he was burning up from fever and the pain was slowly driving him insane. For short moments he felt coolness, like someone poured water on his forehead, but it only helped a few blissful seconds.

After what felt like days the fever subsided and became easier to carry, and the pain disappeared until it only was a small ache. Urgent, but not so bad that he couldn't handle it. His throat felt sore from screaming and thirst and he had a headache, but he'll live. Slowly his eyes fluttered open. In front of him were two relieved faces. Miss Lily Evans from the forest and the voice he hadn't recognized: the royal breeder and the keeper of the grounds around Gryffindale – Rubeus Hagrid, otherwise known as simply Hagrid. Hagrid was originally from Hogwarts, but King Albus had 'borrowed' them the gigantic man for a few years ago when they had trouble with the forest animals and he had simply stayed.  
"Lord Black?" Hagrid asked, sounding relieved. "Thank the gods, yer finally waking up. What happened to ye?"  
Sirius opened his mouth to answer but found that he couldn't get a sound out. Suddenly a cup of water filled his field of view and he drank greedily when Evans placed the cup to his lips. As he regained his ability to speak at least a little as his throat got less desert-like he hissed out:  
"Please. Not Lord Black." It reminded him too much of his father. Hagrid nodded.  
"O' course, Sir Sirius." He said, switching to Sirius' other title – his knight title.  
"What were you thinking?" Lily exclaimed loudly, making Sirius wince in pain as his headache got worse. She saw it and lowered her voice slightly. "…milord." She added after a moment. She hadn't known until Hagrid told her that the young men she met in the forest, which saved her from the robbers, were nobility. She had known they were rich, that much was obvious from their clothing and horses, but not that they belonged to the ruler class. She understood their behaviour a little better now, but she did not like them better because of it. But still, even though she didn't like Sirius – Marquis Black – she couldn't let him die. So when she had seen him rushing forward in that insane speed on that horse that looked exhausted and himself not looking entirely healthy she had followed him and seen the horse fall and the black haired man fall of the horse. She had immediately got Hagrid, and he lived close to where it had been – she had become quite good friends with the man during her stay in Gryffindale – and they had fought against Black's fever the entire night, trying to keep him alive. "Rushing around like that when your horse is exhausted and yourself so obvious was – is – hurt?!" She guessed this wasn't the proper way of talking to a noble, but she had no idea how to talk to one and she was too upset to think about it. She was a commoner after all, daughter of a horse merchant. She had no training in these things.

Sirius groaned. He didn't want to think about it, but he supposed he owed them an explanation. Or not really, actually. He was a noble, he didn't have to explain himself to them at all seeing that they both were commoners. Should he tell them? Ah, well, he could give them a small one.  
"Mother and Father" he began but started to cough. Evans put the water cup to his lips again and he drank thankfully before he could continue "they demanded that I should marry Lady Alecto Carrow of Slytherin. I had no plans to obey because Lady Alecto is the most horrible woman I have ever met, except cousin Bellatrix, so I ran away from home. But not before they punished me for being disobedient and disrespectful. And even if I had been ready to marry I would never want my children and heirs to have Lady Alecto to be their mother."

Hagrid paled immediately. He had met Lady Alecto once and knew just how horrible she was. After a few moments the meaning of Sirius' words seemed to sink into Evans' brain and she understood that he meant that his parents had done this to him. Her hand hit her mouth and she stared at him in shock. Apparently she had never met an offer for abuse before. He thought he could see tears in her eyes too, but maybe he was imagining it.

It hadn't been too long since he actually didn't know he was abused. He had known since he was a toddler that the king and queen at most gave James and him a box on the ear when they had been bad, but he had thought they were just really nice. He had thought that almost all parents were like his. Then he had met the Lupins, but then he thought that maybe commoners didn't beat their children. That it was something only the upper classes did.  
He had finally understood he was wrong when he reached thirteen. Sure that most people could hit their children sometimes, but nothing like how Lord and Lady Black beat Sirius up. But it wasn't against the law so the king and queen would've upset a lot of people if they had tried to take Sirius away from his parents even though they technically had the power to do it.

* * *

Sirius soon fell asleep, but this time it was a healthy recovery-sleep, not like before when he was slipping into the void. He was exhausted. When he woke up he almost thought he was dreaming.  
"James?" he asked and the messy haired boy that stood over him looked overwhelmed in relief.  
"Padfoot. Thanks Luna. You are okay." He sighed and petted Sirius' blood drenched hair. "When Hagrid turned up in the castle an hour ago telling us that you were in his cottage and had run away from home. I thought I would have a heart attack. Everyone is so worried. Remus and Peter are on their way, they were out when we got the message, so I sent a messenger after them, telling them to come here."  
They were alone in the room. Hagrid and Evans had probably left to give them some privacy, which Sirius appreciated a lot, because now when James was here he didn't have energy to be strong anymore.

For the first time for as long as he could remember he began to cry. His entire body shook with violent sobs. He was so exhausted, both physically and mentally, and now when James was there he finally felt safe again, for the first time since he left Gryffindale. Every moment he spent in Grimmauld felt like he was next to a ticking bomb (not that Sirius knew what a bomb was). James didn't say anything, he just embraced his best friend and brother-in-arms and kept him from falling into pieces where he was lying.  
"Please, Prongs." Sirius whispered as he had calmed down a bit. "Please do not make me go back there. I cannot. I can…"  
"Of course you cannot." James interrupted him. "You know that if I could decide, you would have moved in with me years ago. But this time… I do not care for politics. Lord and Lady Black can declare war on the Gryffindor Dynasty for all I care. You will not go back there, even if I will have to abdicate and run away with you to stop it."  
Sirius nodded and smiled slightly from his place in James' arms.  
"Thank you."

After that they just talked about nothing special. James was cautious not to get close to any subject that could get Sirius upset, knowing that if Sirius' condition was still a little critical, it could be dangerous if Sirius became worried or upset. After about ten minutes the door flew open and two exhausted and frantic knights ran into the room. Remus and Peter gasped for air but looked relieved as they saw that Sirius seemed to be okay.  
"We rode from the Estate as soon as we got your message." Remus said between gasps. The Estate was the Lupin Estate. As a knight Remus had been given a smaller estate close to the capital. It was only a few miles big, with a manor house and three villages. Right now it was Lyall who had the responsibility for it, but Remus would get it when he turned seventeen since it actually was his estate – Lyall was the steward of the castle and highest ranked of all the servants, but in difference to his son he was just that – a servant.

"Are you okay?" Peter asked worriedly as he and Remus had gotten back their breath. Sirius nodded but stopped as soon as he realized he was getting a headache from it.  
"I am fine." He assured them. "Now that I known I will not go back there again."  
They looked questioningly at him and Sirius opened his mouth to tell them the story as someone knocked on the door. Remus went to open the door and let in Hagrid and Miss Evans.  
"Do ye need anythin', yer highness, m'lords?" Hagrid asked and after a moment James nodded.  
"Yes. Could you go to the castle and get a carriage? I do not think Sirius is in any shape to ride, so we should need one. Then we will leave and thank your hospitality."  
"O' course, yer highness. Shall I take Lily with me or do ye need her here?"  
James shrugged.  
"Does not matter. Do as you wish, Miss Evans." He said nonchalantly. "But first, I would like to give you a reward for helping Sirius, miss. If not saving one of the powerful nobles in the country is reward enough." That last sentence was meant as a joke but apparently Evans didn't take it like it.

"Thank you, your highness." She said sharply and glared at him. "But I don't require any reward. I wouldn't have gotten any if Sir Sirius had been a commoner, so why would I get one just because he happens to be born as a noble? You're not worth more than anyone else because you're high-born."  
James was a little taken back. All of them were actually. No one had ever talked back to James like that except themselves. Anyone else was too afraid to offend the prince and future king. In a way it was refreshing, but hadn't Evans just saved Sirius' life James would probably have been forced to do something about it. A commoner couldn't go around talking like that to the second most powerful man in the country, after all. But James liked her even if he didn't know why (except that she had saved the life of the person that meant the most for James in the world) and she was without a doubt very beautiful, so he was glad he had a reason to let it pass.  
"I think you just got your reward, Miss Evans." He said with a smirk and she looked at him questioningly. "That I allow you to talk to me like that. Normally I would by law have to punish you for speaking like that to the crown prince and his nobles, but I will let it pass since you have saved the life of one of said nobles."  
Lily glared at him. He didn't understand why. Didn't she realize he had been generous? He knew many nobles that would have her whipped or beheaded for speaking like that to them.

Remus rolled his eyes.  
"Prongs…" he said with a sigh and turned to Evans. "I apologize if you find my friend rude, Miss Evans. But he has got a point. I do not know how it is in your home, but if a commoner had spoken like that to my old overlord they would have been severely punished. But are you certain you do not wish for any reward?"  
"I am sure, Mr… Lord Lupin."

Remus chuckled.  
"No, I am no noble. I am a knight, so my title is Sir Remus, but I am too a commoner so you might as well call me Remus, miss."  
Evans smiled and nodded.  
"Then you can call me Lily, Remus. But no, I don't wish for a reward. If I can, be allowed by his highness to go home?" she said dryly. "Oh, and Sir Sirius, your horse is in Hagrid's stable. He should be well soon enough."  
Sirius nodded a thank you. James still felt that this whole thing was odd, but he nodded.  
"You may leave, Miss Evans."  
Lily left the cottage and soon they heard the sound of a horse on its way from there.  
A while later Hagrid returned with the carriage that had been requested and Sirius was helped into it and they left for the castle.

* * *

That evening the king and queen came to visit Sirius in his bed chamber in Gryffindor Tower he now shared with James. They smiled brightly toward the bedridden lord.  
"We have news, Sirius." The king said carefully, making the black haired young man worried.  
"Your parents have disowned you." Queen Euphemia told him, looking like she was trying to predict his future. For a short second Sirius felt a soaring pain, now knowing fully and without a doubt that his parents did not want him, before feeling an overwhelming happiness.  
"Are you serious?" He exclaimed, not even thinking about making a pun right now. The royal couple nodded. "So… I will without a doubt never have to go back there again?"

They shook their heads and Sirius began to laugh.  
"I… thank you, whoever God made this happen! Seems like they finally listened!"

Sirius was one of the few that either didn't believe in the gods or had begun to doubt their existence even though he always had been careful not to make anything that could offend them and make his life worse if they did exist. But now he wasn't so sure anymore. Perhaps they finally had listened to his prayers.  
The king and queen smiled when they saw how happy Sirius was and Queen Euphemia sat down on his bed and gave him a hug.

"We are so glad for your sake. Of course you are welcome to stay here. You can get your own chambers or live with James here in the Tower since I am sure he will not mind. And you need not worry. We will make sure you get to keep your status as a high rank noble."  
"Thank you mother." Sirius said before realizing what he said and putting his hands to his mouth, terrified. Had he just called the queen of Gryffindor mother? If anything he had ever done was a crime against the laws of society – and the actual laws – this was the worst ever. He didn't think they would punish him for it, but he couldn't be sure since they after all were the king and queen of Gryffindor and he only was a disinherited noble.

A sound came from the door too and he saw James standing there, mouth formed like an O and squinting between his parents and Sirius. Sirius became deathly afraid that James had taken offence, even more than he was for eventual punishment. The queen stared at him with wide eyes.  
"I-" Sirius began "I apolog…"  
He was suddenly interrupted by the queen who gave him a gigantic hug.  
"Oh, Sirius. You need not apologize. You know we have always seen you as a son. Have we not, Fleamont?"  
"Of course we have, love." The king agreed and smiled. "You are very welcome to call us mother and father, Sirius, in private."  
Sirius nodded, smiling. Of course he couldn't do it in public. But this was all he had ever wished for. But then he realized. He looked over to James who was still staring in shock.  
He opened his mouth to say something when James suddenly began to grin. The relief was overwhelming.  
"Then we are almost brothers for real now." James said happily and walked up to Sirius' bed. Sirius grinned back.  
"Yeah. Almost…"

* * *

 **And that was that chapter!**

 **Review!**

 **Well, now Sirius technically isn't a Black anymore (or is he? After all he still inherited everything in canon) but he'll get to keep the last name and his titles except that he won't be marquis or heir of Grimmauld anymore. But perhaps he'll get his own estate when he's turned 17.  
But luckily he won't have to put up with the Blacks anymore, and that's worth it, I would believe. And he won't have to marry Alecto.  
Oh, I just choose Alecto at random because I knew they probably were around the same age and that she was terrible and a Death Eater, so I thought "why the heck not? Better than an OC."**

 **I hope you enjoyed it. It might take a little while longer for next chapter to get up, because I have only started it now, but who knows?**

 **Goodbye! :)**

 **Ps! Don't be angry at the boys for their view on i.e. servants and women. They're the ruler class (except Remus) and have grown up in the royal court (or noble courts) somewhere between the Medieval and the 19th century after all. They think like they've been taught to think. Perhaps they'll change their minds of someone proves them wrong... And just to make clear: all the Marauders (and practically everyone else in Gryffindor and most of the Known World) thinks like this. Remus might not give the impression of it, but meanwhile he knows that a woman can be brave and work hard (his mother worked really hard to give him food when he was little after all), he too have grown up most of his life in the Court and have been raised with these opinions.**

 **They do not doubt that a woman can be very intelligent and awe-inspiring, though. After all, the Queen is highly intelligent and one of their teachers is Minerva McGonagall.**


	8. Chapter VI: Alliance part I

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling.**

James was sitting in the lowest chamber in Gryffindor Tower – his own (and nowadays Sirius') tower in the royal castle – which was his study. He was sitting in front of his gigantic oak desk. Papers were spread out all over it and James was almost tearing his hair out while reading through them and signing most of them. 99% of them were things that just had to be signed, that were already looked through and only needed the permission of him or his parents, but no one told him which so he had to read through them all to make sure he didn't sign one of that last percent.

Luckily he had his friends' company and his secretary – which he had obtained almost two years ago when Remus had become a knight and couldn't keep the job anymore – Benjy Fenwick. Benjy was the youngest son of a merchant in the city and therefore had had to find job elsewhere since his oldest brother would inherit the business. But he was a kind and agreeable young man – he was seventeen, one year older than James – and did his job admirably well. But while they could look at the documents, he was still obliged to read them all. By law and duty he had to make sure he didn't sign anything that he shouldn't/should.

Sirius was sitting with his legs hanging over the armrest in an armchair, Peter was sitting on the floor, leaning toward the wall and Remus sat in a chair, bowed over James' desk. Normally they wouldn't look so informal in the company of anyone but themselves and a few chosen ones, but three months after Benjy had entered into James' service they had begun to relax in Benjy's company. He had sworn to never telling a living or dead soul anything that made the young men look like the kind of mortals that the commoners were. Obviously they were too, but a part of the ruler class' power was that they were looked up to, like some kind of gods – even though everyone but the real fools made sure that Sol, Luna and Thalassa – the gods over the Sun and Moon and Sea – didn't think they actually thought of themselves as gods. It could have devastating consequences if the gods thought so.

 _(A/N – I've added one god on the list of the gods in the Known World – Thalassa, goddess of the Ocean)_

Suddenly there came a knock on the door and the four Marauders immediately straightened their backs and moved as if they sat in a place unfitting for a noble before James gestured to Benjy to open the door. The secretary went over to do so and they found that one of the king's chamberlains stood in the opening.  
The chamberlain bowed deeply and waited until James nodded to him that he could speak before announcing:  
"Their majesties wish to see your highness in the throne room two hours before supper."  
James nodded, wondering what it could be. An official summon was very unusual. For his parents for calling him for an audience, it must be something of high stately significance.  
"Anything else?"  
"Your highness is free to enjoy his evening. Their majesties have released you from your duties during the remains of the day until the audience, your highness."  
"Thank you." James nodded and couldn't help but smile in relief. "You may go."  
The chamberlain bowed once more and backed out of the room.

As soon as the man left, the four Marauders felt an overwhelming relief. Paperwork was so boring and complicated. They all preferred sparring or riding or sailing. They all loved to sail.  
"Benjy, sort this out." Sirius ordered the secretary as he got on his feet and grabbed James to drag him toward the door that led up to James and Sirius' personal parts of the Tower. Benjy bowed.  
"Have a good evening, Benjy." Remus said with a smile before he hurried after his friends who had already begun to climb the stairs.  
"You too, sir Remus." The man replied softly before starting to clean up and sort the documents.

The four men threw themselves onto the couches in the middle of James and Sirius' living room and began to discuss what they should do for the remainder of James' free time. The three knights were free from duties this weekend – except Remus who was always on duty if he was around James but that hardly counted – so James was the only one who had a limited amount of time. Too bad, otherwise they could've ridden out in the forest and slept out there or something. In the end they decided to visit a pub in the outer villages of Gryffindale.

* * *

 _The Striped Goose_ was exactly the kind of establishment where you never would expect to find a prince and a bunch of nobles or knights. It was loud, most things were low quality there and the atmosphere was rowdy and rude. The four men loved it. It was such a change from the orderly life in the Court, where everything was perfect. Here a bar fight threatened to break out anytime and the place was filled with wenches hoping to earn some money.

Sirius and Peter quickly had found themselves some of the prettiest women in the pub and were right now boasting for them while Remus watched in amusement. He had never been one for wenches, especially since he'd met Lady Dora. And no, he was certainly not in love with her, no matter what his friends said.

He had been writing letters with Lady Nymphadora ever since James' fifteenth birthday but hadn't seen her since. The young knight still denied that it was anything more than friendship, though, even if none of them believed him. James, Sirius and Peter were all convinced that Remus was in love with Sirius' cousin and that she probably returned his feelings since they had been writing for just less than two years by now, they supposed. They hadn't found out that they were writing to each other before three months ago when Remus had forgotten to put Lady Nymphadora's letter away before they visited him in the Lupins' chambers. They had been quite upset that he hadn't told them and hadn't talked to Remus for three hours before they got tired of ignoring him.  
James had newly stopped with wenches, only a few months ago. Remus wasn't entirely sure why, actually, but he probably had realized that it wouldn't be a good idea to accidentally find out that he had a bunch of illegitimate heirs. That could create trouble within the kingdom. James could get those as soon as he had produced a few legitimate heirs, but knowing James he wouldn't do that. James was incredibly loyal so he wouldn't share a bed with someone else when he had married but his wife. Remus was proud over his friend, it was quite uncommon in noble circuits not to do that as soon as you had regal sons to inherit you. Except in the extremely traditional families, such as the Blacks, who considered themselves a stand above everyone else.

For once they all made sure not to get drunk, though. It would not do for James to be drunk during an official audience with his parents, and his friends showed solidarity by not drinking too much either.

Remus took a swig from his stop of rum and grimaced slightly. He wasn't fastidious, but honestly, this was some of the worst rum he had ever tried. They usually stopped by at different port pubs when they were sailing, and it usually wasn't too bad, but this was ridiculous. But still he drank. And Sirius took another swig too. The former Black heir seemed to enjoy the chaos and the horrible taste, for some reason.  
Remus shook his head and smiled.

James just happened to look out the window and realized that the sun was beginning to sink. His eyes widened.  
"Guys… we are going to be late for my audience." He said, not caring whether the wenches heard him or not. He enjoyed being able not to sound as formal for once too. He gave the women around their table a gold coin each – which they stared at in shock, they had probably never gotten that much before – and then the four men hurried out to the horses. When they visited the villages they did not ride the Phoenix horses but some others they took from the stables, for obvious reasons.

* * *

They hurried to ride back to the city of Gryffindale and left the horses to some stable boys before leaving up to Gryffindor Tower to let Nathan make James ready for his audience. For an official audience like this he should also wear official clothes, so soon the prince was dressed in red and gold uniform with all his emblems on, such as the Heir of the throne – the young lion, as the supreme commander of the royal forces – a roaring full grown lion, and his own personal one – the stag. They reached the doors to the throne room just in time, but all of them had to wait outside since not one of them but James was invited to this audience.

The herald announced that James had arrived and James walked in between the lines of nobles toward the thrones where his parents sat, and sank down on one knee and bowed his head in a formal greeting, just like he was supposed to during an official summon.  
"Your majesties."  
The king nodded.  
"Rise, Prince James." He said and James rose, looking at his parents. "We have summoned you today to discuss a matter of high stately importance."  
James nodded slightly, he had guessed that much.  
"War is threatening" at this James winced and stared at his parents. He knew the situation between the kingdoms, especially Gryffindor and Slytherin, was instable, but war? Wasn't that a little extreme? "and as you know we have to do what is best for our kingdom."

James swallowed but nodded. He could not say anything, it would be a breach of etiquette to interrupt the king. He wondered where his parents were going with this, and he did not like the sound of it. The king continued.

"We know that we promised not to do this," the king was talking in the royal 'we' and James did not think this sounded good "but we need allies and have decided to strengthen our alliance with Hufflepuff, through marriage if they accept it."  
Okay…?  
"Therefore, Prince James, you will travel to the royal court of Hufflepuff in one month and ask for her highness Princess Isolde of the Hufflepuff Dynasty's hand in marriage. We have found that she, except strengthen the alliance between our countries, will be a perfect queen of Gryffindor when that day arrives."  
James couldn't help but flinch.

He did not believe his ears, frankly. His parents had promised to let him try to find love before marrying him off in an arranged marriage if he didn't succeed before his nineteenth birthday. If there was one thing he did not want, it was an arranged marriage with someone he hadn't met since he was nine years old. But he knew he didn't have any choice. Firstly, if the king had decided it then it would be so, and secondly, his father was right in saying that it would be the best for their kingdom and James' biggest duty was to always put his kingdom before anything else.

After half a moment in incomprehension and hesitation he quickly put on a thoroughly trained face of neutrality and bowed deeply.  
"As my king wishes. I shall travel to Hufflepuff and request her majesty Queen Tanwen for her daughter's, the princess', hand in marriage."  
Hufflepuff was the only country with a female monarch. Queen Tanwen had been chosen to be queen two years prior, so she had another eight years on the throne from now. Hopefully the war would be won before that, and even if it wasn't, the princess was a part of the Hufflepuff Dynasty. The Hufflepuff Dynasty wasn't necessarily always close to the throne, but they were the most powerful and important noble family in Hufflepuff and therefore the alliance would be important still when Tanwen wasn't the monarch anymore.

For a moment James saw his parents looking at him with sympathy before it disappeared into schooled neutrality.  
"I am glad, my prince." King Fleamont said steadily, and bowed his head. "You may leave."  
James bowed deeply once again before removing himself from the throne room. As he left the hall and the door closed after him, he took a deep breath to keep up appearances for a while more since he wasn't alone with his friends yet, and with determined steps walked toward Gryffindor Tower. He heard his friends following him.

"What is the matter, Prongs?" Peter asked worriedly as they caught up with him.  
"I will tell you when we reach the Tower." James promised and they nodded, following him through the hallways of the royal castle.

* * *

When they reached the living room once again James quickly dismissed Nathan before sinking into the couch, feeling drained of energy.  
Sirius, Remus and Peter gathered around him, feeling worried. They hadn't seen James like this since… well, never actually.

"Apparently Slytherin is threatening war" James began tiredly and ignored the startled and scared looks on his friends' faces – war was something that was constantly feared even in a nation of warriors such as Gryffindor "so they have decided to strengthen our alliance with Hufflepuff. It has been decided that I am to travel to Hufflepuff and ask for the princess' hand in marriage. If the queen accepts, I am going to marry Princess Isolde within months."

He felt, rather than saw, his friends' shock. Sirius was the one that was the most horrified, he knew what it felt like when your parents wanted you to marry someone you didn't want to marry, meanwhile Peter only looked shocked. Remus was incredibly sad for his friend's sake, but was also going through the strategic advantages of this in his head. He definitely did not want his friend to have an arranged marriage, it was simply who he was. He knew there was nothing they could do to stop this if the king had decided so, if they wouldn't run away, and James would never do that, so he was trying to find the positive bit with it and to see why they wanted this to happen. It wasn't hard to see. Hufflepuff had an organised and very skilled and big militia, and if war was threatening the royals had to do their best to give themselves the best chance to win without too many losses of lives among their subjects. But he was neither stupid nor insensitive enough to try to say something to change James' mind about this marriage. Especially since he was entirely sure he wouldn't have appreciated it if his parents would decide to marry him off to a stranger – which they luckily would never do.

"It could have been worse…" Peter said meekly. "Princess Isolde is known to be both beautiful and kind."

James and Sirius glared viciously at him and the future count couldn't help but squeak. James did not want anything like that right now, thank you very much.  
"Sorry!" the brown blonde hurried to apologize.

* * *

Pretty much exactly a month later all details about the journey and what would happen when they arrived were decided. It had been decided which of James' stab's servants would accompany them and which of his body guards. The ships each had a small pluton of soldiers, the crews had been employed, and the stable boys had been chosen. James was just relieved that his friends will come with him to Hufflepuff. He had been bold enough to tell his parents the day after he had been told that he was to marry Princess Isolde that he would do it, of course, but only if his friends would come with him during all the important parts of the courtship. Had the king been less fatherly it could've resulted in some kind of punishment, but King Fleamont loved his son and was very sad for the young man's sake – but they needed allies. They already were allied to Hufflepuff, but everything that could strengthen the alliance was necessary. He agreed.

The prince and his friends were dressed in travelling clothes and cloaks as they left their rooms on the day of departure. Simple tunics, trousers, leather boots and comfortable brown cloaks. They met up at the castle yard to say farewell to their parents. The king and the queen, count and countess Pettigrew of Aleria, and Mr and Mrs Lupin were standing in the yard, waiting for them.  
The four young men came out from the castle together and bowed lowly for the king and queen, before walking to their own parents. Sirius followed James to King Fleamont and Queen Euphemia.

Both bowed once more before the king embraced James in a hug and the queen caught Sirius in her arms. Right now, they for once didn't care much for propriety, now when their sons were going to be away for a long time, a month or more. Then they changed and hugged the other black haired man.

"Take care of yourselves, boys." Queen Euphemia said softly.  
"We promise, mother." James replied.  
"Of course. Do not worry, I will make sure Jamesie does not get into too much trouble." Sirius smirked and the king and queen laughed.  
"Oh, Sirius. You are at least as much of a trouble-maker as James." King Fleamont laughed.

Peter bowed lowly for his parents before his mother, Lady Petra, gave him a hug.  
"Be nice, Peter. Do not forget your manners around all those peasants."  
"I will not mother. I promise."  
Then his father, Lord Alexander, gave him a hug too, but a short and 'manly' one.  
"Make us proud and show those peasants how a noble behaves, son."  
Peter nodded solemnly. Lord and Lady Pettigrew were both very traditional and believed that they – as nobles – were better and more worthy than commoners. But they weren't as extreme as the Black-family, and didn't feel it was okay to kill commoners for the slightest offences, even though they had been known to discipline their servants for smaller things than they would do at the castle. They didn't like Hufflepuff too much, since they found it undignified that commoners were allowed to help rule the country, and even sit on the throne once in a while – when a commoner won the election. Or that the Hufflepuffs voted for who would be their monarch.

Remus simply walked up to his parents and hugged them both.  
"Be careful, Remus." Mrs Lupin said and buried her face in Remus' shoulder. He was taller than her now and had been for a year.  
"We love you." Mr Lupin told him, embracing his son.  
"I love you too, mum, dad." Remus was the only of the four who didn't use the more formal and proper 'mother' and 'father'. A relic from his first seven years of life, when he lived on Peverell Island.

Then some stable boys succeeded, struggling, to lead their horses to them and they sat up and rode to the harbour of Gryffindale. They had been promised no big processions or such things, even though it was unfitting to leave the city for such a long time – and the kingdom – without processions to show people that their prince was leaving. The four of them looked quite anonymous in their unpretentious clothes even though they were high quality, and therefore didn't wake much attention when they passed through the city.  
The part of the harbour they should be in was really pleasant, with open spaces and cosy inns and elegant ships, and they loved to spend time down here. But today they had a goal and James wasn't in the mood for anything they could do in the harbour anyway. He just wanted to get going.

* * *

They reached the docks where the ships were tied up and all of them grinned, feeling better than they had for a long time as they sighted her. _The Marauder_. She was actually James' ship, he had gotten her as a gift on his 16th birthday, but they usually said their ship. _The Marauder_ was a full rigged frigate, a war-ship, even if she was used for travelling and not wars – they would never risk her by sending her out in a battle. They all loved her fiercely. If they could decide they would stay on the ocean all the time, but obviously they couldn't. Riding up the gang-plank they smiled as they felt the familiar rocking beneath their feet – or the horses' hooves. They sat off and waited for someone to take their horses. Usually they would take care of them themselves when they had the time – especially James – but they had to set sail.

"Is there a stable boy here?" Peter asked some moments later when no one had taken the horses and a boy from the crew – an orphan from the city who had been employed as cabin boy - his name was Jasper if James recalled correctly – bowed and answered when no one else seemed like they would.  
"Erik went to get the one responsible for the stable, Mr Pettigrew." He said timidly. As soon as they had gotten aboard the ship they weren't nobles or knights anymore. They were members of the crew and the leaders of the crew. James as captain, both because it was his ship and because he was the one with the necessary leader qualities, Sirius as first mate, Remus as second mate and Peter as the navigator. Peter was surprisingly good at reading maps and such things, definitely the one of them that was the best at it.  
After another few moments steps were heard from the inside of the ship and a cabin boy, Erik, came through the door followed by a surprisingly familiar gestalt with flaming red hair in a braid on her back, who was dressed in trousers and a tunic just like the men.

"Miss Evans?" James, Sirius and Peter said, confused, at the same time as Remus said:  
"Lily?"  
"What are you doing here?" James asked after a moment of silence. Firstly, why was a girl the one responsible for their horses – because it undeniably looked like she was the stable 'boy' – and second, what were the odds that it would be just Miss Lily Evans?  
"I am the caretaker of the horses, your highness." Miss Evans said with a voice that neither expressed liking or disliking, that just sounded entirely neutral.

"But…" Sirius said. "You are a woman."  
Evans glared at him before taking a deep breath and looking neutral again.  
"Yes I am. But during the Tournaments they were willing to employ me in the stables since they needed more staff and then I was the only one who could take care of your horses since everyone else was too nervous after someone threatened to whip them if the horses got hurt." She had a sharp edge on her voice in the end. James blinked.

"Someone did? Huh." He looked at his friends before turning back to the red head. "Any idea who?"  
"So it wasn't you, then?" She said, sounding a little nicer but still not very happy to be there.  
"No." The other three boys shook their heads. "I do not think it was mother or father either. Perhaps Lord Herobynn, he is one of the lords that was responsible for the Phoenix horses to be bred. It would make sense to do that, though, they are extremely valuable and cost more than a stable hand earns in his entire life."  
Evans froze.

"Oh," James added "and while we're on the ship, and during the journey, it is Captain Potter, not your highness."  
She nodded before simply taking the horses and walking down into the inside of the ship with them. In some way she succeeded to get all four with her at the same time.

James shrugged. He didn't understand that person. She was so different from every female he had ever met, be it in the Court or in the villages he had visited incognito with his friends. He went to the Captain's cabin and got his captain's hat. He smiled as he looked into the mirror and put it on his head. He was home.

* * *

A few hours later they were a few nautical miles out in the mouth of the Phoenix Strait, as the waters between Gryffindor, more of Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, were called (Gryffindor owned most of the country closest the other side of the strait too, but a small part of it belonged to Hufflepuff). James and Sirius were sitting up in the rig and talking excitedly. They had promised to sail directly to Diagon, the capital of Hufflepuff, so they would not be able to stay in any of the port towns on the way, such as Vakora or Sirin, but they were going to enjoy these three days out on the ocean as much as possible. Right now nothing special was happening, but the ocean was so wonderfully unpredictable. You never knew what would happen within the next hours, or the next days. Remus was standing behind the wheel right now, steering _the Marauder_ , and Peter was in the captain's cabin watching the maps. Of course, they knew the way from Gryffindale to Diagon, but it was always best to make sure they didn't get into any dangerous waters.

James stood up, a rope in his hand being the only thing that ensured his safety, and laughed. Then wind bit his cheeks and his hair was even messier than usual. His left hand was held on his hat so it wouldn't fly away.  
"Race you to the deck!" He called out to Sirius who grinned, before he dragged a dagger he had in his belt and cut the rope he held, swinging toward the closest ratline. He quickly grabbed it before beginning to climb as fast as he could while he watched Sirius' in the corner of his eye. Sirius was too swinging on a rope. He had to do something if he would win, since Sirius was the climbing master of the Marauders, and perhaps the whole kingdom. Smirking he moved his hat from his head so he held it between his teeth before jumping toward the closest rope that went all the way down to the spar deck. Praying a short prayer to Luna, but laughing, thrilled, he succeeded to catch the rope and used it to glide all the way down to the deck he landed on the tree planks about twenty seconds before Sirius. Just before his feet found ground the door that led to the lower decks opened and he found a certain red head staring at him. James laughed, he didn't even care that a commoner outside his crew saw him like this (except Remus of course but James didn't see him as a commoner but his friend and as much of a noble as they).

"This is the life, Miss Evans." He exclaimed with a bright smile. She seemed a little confused over his sudden change in behaviour. Gone was the prince and back again was the sea captain. "Blue sky, fresh winds, the ocean open in front of us, the possibilities are endless! Oh, I could stay here forever."

She stared at him in confusion and James laughed again. He never felt so free as he did when he was out with _the Marauder._ Away from all the expectations of the court, away from his teachers and tutors, guards, servants and nobles' watchful eyes and only in the company of his friends, the few soldiers that followed (which were all very trusted), his crew of which everyone were commoners so they had no idea how a prince was supposed to act, and this time, Miss Evans. But even if she didn't seem to like him he was entirely sure that she wouldn't go gossiping about his actions if he didn't act like a prince when she was in his vicinity. He didn't know why, but he had the feeling that he could trust her with this.

"You know you can't, your hi… captain, right?" she corrected herself. James rolled his eyes.  
"Of course I cannot." He grunted. "But I will enjoy my freedom while I can and try not to think about what is waiting. So I would appreciate if you did not remind me."  
Evans raised an eyebrow but nodded,  
"As you wish, captain."  
Then Remus shouted his name and James did a low bow before climbing the stairs to where Remus stood. Sirius soon joined them.

* * *

During the two days that passed on the ship Evans seemed slightly more positive to them all, even if she still seemed to dislike him, Sirius and Peter. She and Remus were often seen talking though and they seemed to have become good friends. It annoyed James for some reason, but he always shook his head. Remus was allowed to have other friends than them. Of course he was. And obviously that was the only reason he felt a dark tingle in his stomach every time he saw them laughing together.

The red head laughed loudly as Remus told her about an episode in his early childhood when the son of the lord on Peverell Island, where he lived the first years of his life, had tried to humiliate him but ended up falling of his horse and down a lower cliff into the ocean when he was five.  
"He was so mad!" Remus said, grinning. "After the horse threw him off he screamed like a banshee as he fell. And he only fell two meters down into deep water! When he came up, everyone, even his loyal followers, were laughing like there was no tomorrow! That was one of my greatest moments before I met my friends."  
He had already told Lily about when he met the three nobles and she had seemed a bit more positive to them at first – until she had heard Peter comment about how women couldn't do some things and then everything positive had disappeared.

To be honest, Remus had believed just like his friends that women weren't made for the same things men were made for. It was how he was raised. He had known women could be capable, intelligent and hardworking, but he hadn't thought of that they could do the same things as men. But to be entirely honest, Lily was beginning to make him change his mind. She was very capable of handling the Phoenix horses, for example, and everything else she had been made to do during the journey. It also seemed like she had the kind of hand with horses than he only had seen twice before: in James and the queen. She had been able to calm down all the horses under deck – there was six horses there – within minutes after a particularly violent wave had rocketed the ship.  
She was also wonderful company. He only knew a few people he had liked this much. His friends, obviously, and Lady Dora. Remus hoped fiercely that he would get to meet Lady Dora when he came to Hufflepuff, but it wasn't his place to ask for an audience with her. He could only hope that either she would ask for one if she knew he was there, or that she would be in the court. Or, even though it was unlikely, they for some reason were supposed to visit Evermore Falls where the Tonkses lived – their estate.

"I wish I could've seen that!" Lily exclaimed, putting some hair that had fled from her braid behind her ear. "There are few things that are better than seeing puffed-up nobles get what they deserve!"  
Remus grinned, but frowned a little.  
"Be careful with what you say, Lils." He told her. "James, Sirius, and Peter would not punish you for saying so if they can get away with it, but there are people who would have you severely punished for saying such things. On the Marauder it is okay, and the Hufflepuffs are very tolerant, but back in Gryffindor or in any other country, there could be consequences for saying things like that."

Lily opened her mouth to answer, when Sirius, who sat in the Crow's nest right now, called out.  
" _Storm clouds on starboard side_!"  
Most of the crew, including all of the Marauders, except James who was in his cabin, and Lily, looked to starboard and saw a flock of great black thunder clouds in the horizon. It wouldn't be worrisome if it hadn't been for the fact that they were quickly travelling toward them.  
"Someone get the captain!" Remus ordered the crew, quickly falling back into his role as second mate as Sirius began to climb down from the Crow's nest. If it was going to be stormy, it would be extremely dangerous to be up there. John, one of the sailors, nodded and hurried toward the Captain's cabin. After about a minute James came running out, dragging his coat over his arms while he ran. He looked toward the storm.

"It will be here in about a half hour, I would say." He commented worriedly. "And it looks big."  
The crew nodded in agreement. James turned to them.  
"Prepare for storm. Reef the sails! Secure the ropes! To your positions!" he ordered and the men hurried to obey. "Miss Evans." James said, turning to Lily. "You should go down under deck. It will be dangerous out here soon."

She looked defiant.  
"I can help." She pointed out. The black haired man smiled slightly.  
"I do not think you can, actually." He held up a hand before she could say anything and silenced her. "And no, it has nothing to do with the fact that you are a woman. Do you know anything about sailing?"  
Lily shook her head. It was horses she was an expert on. James nodded.  
"Thought so. Listen, you will only get in the way and be in danger out here. You should be under deck and handling the horses. They will probably panic, this seems like it is going to be wild."  
Lily looked like she would protest once more but then glanced at Remus who nodded. He agreed with James. She gave a quick nod.  
"Okay."

She told them good luck and went under deck to go down to the horses. James and Remus both looked relieved. Neither wanted her to get hurt, and if she was up there she would probably be flushed overboard. Sirius had now reached the deck once more – he had climbed slowly because the ship was already beginning to rock violently from the waves that reached them from the distance and it was not a good idea to take unnecessary risks when a storm was on its way – and he and Peter walked over to them and joined the two men where they stood before leaving to different places on the ship and beginning to shout out orders.

An hour later the storm had reached full force. The wind was almost reaching hurricane force and the rain was so violent that it hurt to be hit by a single drop. The drops hit the sailors by hundreds and thousands every second. They could almost not hear what anyone said and the captain and his first- and second mate had to shout as loud as they could to make it possible for the crew to hear their orders. James was standing together with the cook – who was actually named Cook, funnily enough – and two men named Drystan and Peder, wrestling the rope that they had fastened the mainmast's boom with, desperately trying to tie it to its place.  
"Just a little bit more!" He yelled and his crew members nodded. They were all sweating like animals but thanks to the rain it was impossible to see. They made one last effort and James succeeded to attach it to its place. For a short moment they all dropped to the deck in exhaustion but they couldn't rest for more than a few seconds. They didn't have time, there was a lot that had to be done to keep the ship from sinking.

" _Wave_!"  
A voice called out in warning and every member of the crew immediately grabbed the closest thing that they could get that was fastened on the ship and held on for dear life. Within seconds a wave washed in over the deck, dragging in the men, trying to push them overboard. Thalassa seemed to be furious.

They had offered to her when they came out on the sea – both jewellery and a fox since she was known to like foxes – so hopefully it wasn't they she was mad at, and would let them live if they could keep the Marauder from sinking. Remus wondered what kind of idiot had angered the Ocean Goddess, especially since she was known to be moody.

After another hour of fighting the storm, one man had been flushed overboard, but luckily the crew member Samuel had seen it and gotten him up before he could disappear in the storm or drown. The storm showed no signs of subsiding. Suddenly a neigh was heard and hooves and one of the doors were thrown open as one of the horses – luckily not a Phoenix horse – came running out on the deck, panicked.

" _Dusk_!" Evans' voice was heard as she followed the horse out on deck. "Come _back_!"  
"Miss Evans! Get the horse and go back under deck!" Sirius yelled as loudly as he could but he wasn't sure if she could hear him even though he was the one that stood the closest to her. "It's dangerous up here!"  
"Wave!" Another voice shouted once again. The ship had been half drowned more times than they bothered to count by now.  
"Grab something! Anything you can hold on to!" Sirius yelled to Evans as she came closer. He himself grabbed the ratline and clung on to it with all his strength while he watched what he thought must be an almost tsunami-big wave that came closer to the ship extremely fast. He was terrified and knew that at any time the ship could keel over or capsize, but at the same time he felt a strange sort of exhilaration that made him almost want to laugh. Laugh death and danger in the face. It was a feeling that you only could feel when you knew you could die anytime.

Evans looked confused when she saw every man on the deck grab things and hold onto them like Sol knows what, but then she glanced to larboard and saw the wave whereupon she frantically looked for something to hold on to. She hurried toward the stairs to hold on to the banisters and was only inches from reaching them when the wave flushed over the deck.

Everyone drowned in salt water. Everything that existed, the water that flushed over them, drenched them and tried to drag them overboard. But as the wave passed a woman's scream was heard. James' stomach tightened when he let go of the railing and the ropes he had been holding on to just at the same moment as Evans, and the horse got flushed overboard.

" _Miss Evans_!" He cried out, running over to where she had fallen. She was in the boiling ocean and its wild waves. Luckily it seemed like she could swim, but no one, not even the most skilled swimmer in the world, would be able to keep themselves over the surface for a long while in a storm like this. She screamed once again before spitting out the water from her mouth, desperately trying to keep her head over the water.  
Suddenly she disappeared under the surface. For a few moments James felt like he would die if she drowned even though he had no idea why, he didn't even know her that well, it wasn't like they were friends or anything, before he only could sigh of relief as her head showed up again. But she was visibly exhausted. The horse's neighs echoed, it was panicked, but there was nothing that could be done for the horse. No way they could get it aboard again and the most important thing was to save the woman in the water. Hopefully the ocean goddess would see the horse as an offering and stop the storm.

"Oh, great Thalassa, please hear my prayer and let her live. I beg of you." James mumbled panicked as he stared at the red head in the water, the only thing he could do for a moment before he regained his senses.

"A rope! Give me a rope!" The cabin boy Erik quickly came with one. Some of the cabin boys were helping by assisting the sailors with the equipment they needed such as ropes and knives, and keeping an eye out for waves. James tore the rope from his hands before quickly tying it to the brackets on the railing and throwing it as far as he could toward Evans' direction as possible. He was lucky, it fell to the surface only six feet from her. He just hoped she had the strength to swim there and hold on to the rope.

"Miss Evans! The rope! A few feet in front of you!" he called out as loudly as he could, hoping she would hear him. Fortunately enough she seemed to and began to fight the waves. She dived under the water since it would be much easier to swim against the waves from beneath. The rope began to move away from its place but she came up to the surface only a moment before it disappeared out of reach. She grabbed it, and in some strange way succeeded to tie it around her waist. James waved the closest crew member to him and together they began to haul Miss Evans towards them. While Miss Evans didn't seem to weigh much, it was a hard work. The ocean itself worked against them. Weakly Miss Evans began to help them by climbing and holding on to all the openings and canon ports and later the railing as she reached the Marauder once again. When she finally was 'safe' on deck again she collapsed out of exhaustion and fear and relief.

"Caspar!" James called out to one of the youngest sailors, hardly fourteen, who looked up. "Take Miss Evans inside the nearest safe cabin and stay with her! Get her warm!"  
"Aye, captain!" Caspar called and hurried up to them, helping and supporting Evans until they came inside. James looked after her and thought he heard her mutter "Thank Merlin I didn't wear a dress" and almost smiled before he realized he didn't have time to stand here. He had a crew to lead and a ship to save.

* * *

Three hours later, in the beginning of the night, the storm finally subsided and they could finally rest as the gigantic waves stopped coming, the wind became a breeze and the rain stopped falling. The crew gave out a collective sigh that must've been heard at least a nautical mile as they almost collapsed on the deck. James staggered over to where his friends had sat down next to the wall and sank down next to them not being able to stand on his legs for a moment more. That was the worst storm he had ever experienced. He had sailed through storms before, both before and after he got the Marauder, but never something this big. He hoped the other ship that followed them to Hufflepuff had survived.

For a few moments the four friends just stared at each other before Peter began to giggle. Within moments the four of them were almost crying in exhausted laughter.  
"We… survived!" Remus succeeded to stutter out. "Who would have guessed!?"  
"I- I know!" Sirius replied, trying to breathe. "I thought we were going to die!"  
They laughed for about five minutes, hardly being able to breathe during the whole time. They laughed in relief of being alive and over the realization how wonderful life actually was. They hadn't understood it before but after being so close to death, now they knew. Life was painful, but it was great.

After half an hour the four boys finally felt strong enough to get on their feet again. A few of the crew members had begun to clean up the mess the storm had created. Remus waved for a sailor to come.  
"Aye, Mr Lupin?" the sailor, Tasmaniel, asked.  
"Any casualties?" The second mate asked. Tasmaniel smiled slightly.  
"Luck'ly not. Ther' was Joseph who fell overboard, and Miss Evans of course, but both're safe. Evryone's alive even though there are a few minor injuries."  
Remus nodded and the sailor went back. The first mate and the second mate quickly made sure that everyone who had gotten hurt got to the healer and then made up the schedule for the wheel and Crow's nest for the night. In the meantime, the captain went inside his own cabin to make sure nothing important had gotten damaged.

He froze as he came inside. In his bed Miss Evans was lying, curled up in a ball underneath the duvet, sleeping. Caspar was sitting leaned toward the wall, sleeping too. For a moment he thought about waking them but decided not to. He watched Evans. She truly was beautiful with her red hair now that she had let it out of its confinement in the braid. She looked so peaceful. He felt a tingle in his stomach, but didn't think much about it since he didn't have any idea what it was. He smiled when he watched her slow breaths. She didn't seem to be in any immediate danger from the cold or shock of being flushed overboard, at least. Quietly he took out a quilt from his wardrobe and put it over the young boy before walking out.

"Sirius, can I share a cabin with you tonight?" he asked his best friend and brother-in-arms. Sirius tilted his head to the side.  
"Sure. Why?"  
"Miss Evans and Caspar have fallen asleep in there. I did not feel like waking them up."  
Sirius raised an eyebrow but shrugged, letting it go.  
Before they went to bed they offered to Thalassa, in hope that she would keep them safe during the rest of their journey and on the way home, and to thank her that no one had died.

* * *

The next day James was too busy to talk to the stable girl or Caspar about falling asleep in his cabin and neither of them seemed to want to mention it, so he decided not to either. Soon enough the lookout called out:  
"Land in sight! Dead ahead!"

Sure enough, as they came closer, the city of Diagon towered in front of them. The members of the crew, including Miss Evans, even if she wasn't actually a crew member, that never had seen the capital of Hufflepuff before gasped. It was truly a beautiful sight. The royal castle was easily seen as it was the tallest building in the city; With its black towers and spires it put the royal castle of Gryffindor to shame. In fact, it put all the royal castles in all of the Known World to shame. The Hufflepuffs were extremely skilled in architecture and their city was called the most beautiful city in the world.

No one but their most trusted architects and politicians knew where the black stone of the castle and a few more buildings came from, and no one but said architects and the workers knew how they held that magnificent lustre year after year. The roofs of the spires were covered in gold and shone in the sunlight.

The four knights left the third mate in charge – a commoner, since all of James' crew were commoners, named Cadan Alby – and went into their cabins to change clothes. When they came out again they weren't dressed as sailors anymore, but in clothes fit for their place in the hierarchy. James as a crown prince, Sirius and Peter as nobles and Remus as a wealthy knight (after getting the Lupin Estate he was almost as wealthy as Peter, even if not quite).

 _The Marauder_ made fast at the pier and waited for their welcome committee. It would be rude to go ashore without permission from the Hufflepuffs, and no one but the welcome committee would come close to them since the flag that flew from the top of the mainmast had the emblem of the crown prince of Gryffindor on it.  
Luckily they didn't have to wait for too long, and soon the Hufflepuffian entourage was seen. The entourage that would lead them to the home of the woman who would most likely be James' bride in the near future.

* * *

 **Yay! The _real_ thing are starting. :D**

 **Review! ^^  
The more reviews the quicker you'll get next chapter because I'll get more motivated to write it/finish it.**

 **I had to make this into sevral chapters. First I thought I would post it all on the same time, but I haven't even finished half of it yet and honestly, it would be waaay to long to post as one chapter...**

 **So... James are probably going to get married within a few months and then fight a war together with their allies in Hufflepuff... Fun! ;)**


	9. Chapter VII: Alliance part II

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter and the Marauders belong to J.K Rowling.**

A big entourage consisting of around ten knights, a few soldiers from the infantry, and people who in any other country obviously would've been nobles rode toward the Marauder. All they could be sure about in Hufflepuff was that they were representatives of the Crown and parliament, all dressed in Hufflepuff's yellow and black colours and having the emblem of the Badger somewhere on their clothes.

The entourage halted when they reached the Marauder, and two of the representatives – a man and a woman, both blond – rode forward a few steps until they stood in front of the group, and then they sat off their horses.  
The man wore black trousers and high black leather boots, and a clear yellow tunic with the Badger emblem over the heart. The woman wore a sun coloured dress that reached a feet or two away from her on the ground, so it dragged behind her when she walked. From her waistline and up the yellow was covered by black lace, though. It was long-sleeved but didn't cover her shoulders. She too had the Badger over her heart, in the form of a golden brooch. She wore a simple gold chain with an onyx hanging from it. Both of them exuded wealth, self-confidence and, in a way, charm.

"Your royal highness, milords, Sir Remus."  
The man said and they bowed and curtsied. James, Sirius, Remus and Peter bowed back. These people had yet to introduce themselves, so they weren't sure exactly who they were.  
"We are honoured to have you visit our kingdom, your highness." The woman said. "Allow me to introduce myself and my brother." She curtsied again. "I am Lady Lihannon Griffiths, and this is my twin brother, Lord Lionel Griffiths, of Helga's Valley."

So these were the heirs of Helga's Valley, then? After Diagon, Helga's Valley was the most important part of Hufflepuff. According to the legend, it was where Helga Hufflepuff had settled when she first came to the land she had inherited from her father, King Merlin the Great of Hogwarts – the first known king of Hogwarts. James wasn't surprised. He was the heir of Hufflepuff's most powerful ally after all, so it would make sense that they sent two of their most important citizens to welcome him.

"I am honoured to be here, milady, milord." James answered politely, making sure to sound sincere. He would've been sincere if he hadn't been here to propose to the princess. He liked Hufflepuff and its inhabitants. "Allow me to introduce my friends and most respected advisors; Lord Sirius Black, disinherited marquis of Grimmauld." Sirius bowed and smirked toward Lady Lihannon who smiled. "Lord Peter Pettigrew, future count of Aleria." Peter bowed. "And my personal body guard, Sir Remus Lupin of Peverell Island and the Lupin Estate." Remus bowed. James had of course introduced them in turn after their place in the hierarchy. It was necessary by courtesy rules to introduce them even if the lord and lady already knew who they were, as proved earlier when they greeted them by name.

"A pleasure to meet you all." Lord Lionel said with a smile. "I bid you, your highness, milords, Sir Remus, come ashore. Ride with us through our capital. We will leave guards and servants to help your crew, and house them."

Soon, Miss Evans, with help from a few members of the crew, had led the horses up on deck again and the young ambassadors sat up and rode down the gang-plank. As they reached Lord Lionel and Lady Lihannon they both had fortunately taken place onto their horses again, or otherwise they would be forced to sit off again since a gentleman didn't sit on his horse when a lady stood on the ground.  
A few servants, amongst them Miss Evans, followed them. They would live in the castle too and would ride with the soldiers and servants in this entourage through Diagon.  
Crowds gathered around the wide streets of the city as their escort led them through the wide streets and turning corners. The Hufflepuffians looked prosperous and there were very few, if any, citizens that seemed to have too little to eat or not enough clothing to cover them. James didn't know whether this was due to that they – possibly – rode through the richer parts of the city or if Diagon 'simply' didn't have much poverty. It could be both since the Kingdom of the Badger had a reputation of taking care of the people who didn't have the possibility to work. He would have to study this when he came home – or talk with his future wife about it. It would be a good idea to try to establish some services of this kind at home too.

Lady Lihannon and Lord Lionel talked and told them about monuments in the city and about their kingdom as they passed through the capital, smiling toward the masses. The four men nodded and tried to look the perfect amount of interested.  
"That is the Great Temple of Luna." Lady Lihannon told them. All of them found it a little strange with a lady of noble birth who was so free spoken. "It is one of the biggest sanctums in the Known World, as you probably know. We get hundreds of pilgrims every year that comes to visit Her."  
"And that is the Library of Hufflepuff." Lord Lionel said. "The biggest library in our kingdom, even bigger than the Royal Library."  
At this both Sirius and Remus looked interested. Both of them loved books. Remus because he found them amazing and Sirius because they had been his favourite escape from the harsh reality in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black-household. Lord Lionel smiled.  
"I take it as you like books then, milord, sir?" When they told him "Yes" he smiled again. "I am sure that you will get an opportunity to visit the Library."

After about half an hour they reached the famous black Castle of Hufflepuff.  
It really was an astounding sight. They had all been here before, but their memories of the place didn't even get close to reality. It must've cost a fortune to build the castle and yet the kingdom seemed rich. But of course, the castle had been built hundreds of years ago. The first castle had burnt down two hundred years after Helga Hufflepuff, but this was an almost perfect copy of the first – according to the legends since not many reliable sources described the first Castle of Hufflepuff.

The lord and lady smiled knowingly but hid their smiles so they wouldn't seem rude before leading the way into the courtyard.

Some stable hands came to take care of the horses and Lady Lihannon called for some servants to show them to their chambers.  
"Can you be ready for an audience with Her Majesty in three hours?" she asked.  
"Of course, milady." Sirius said, smirking slightly.  
She nodded and they were showed to where they would reside the next month or more.

* * *

Three hours later they were cleaned up and had changed clothes to uniforms worthy of a royal audience (for royalty and nobility during this time there were a lot of clothes-changes) and were waiting outside the throne room. They were all nervous, especially James – he wouldn't propose today, that would be rude – but forced their faces into self-confident masks of neutrality. Sirius was probably the one who was least nervous except for James' sake.

Then the door opened and the herald announced their presence by calling out full names and titles.  
"His royal highness, James of the Gryffindor Dynasty, the count of Hogsmeade, marquis of Gryffindale and Whinging, supreme commander of the Royal Forces, duke of Godric's Hollow and heir to his Majesty King Fleamont I of the Kingdom of Gryffindor."  
"His Grace, Lord Sirius Black III, disinherited marquis of Grimmauld, knight in the Royal forces of Gryffindor, heir to Duke William McKinnon of Gryffindale, twelfth in line to the throne of Gryffindor."

Sirius had been elected to heir to the present duke of Gryffindale since he only had a daughter and no sons to inherit him, and neither did he have any nephews. The duke of Gryffindale automatically became the King's closest advisor and the most powerful man in the country after the king and crown prince, so James had immediately suggested Sirius when it came up to who would inherit the lord. Sirius was just glad he would have higher status than his birth family. It was pretty likely that if he didn't find a suitable bride himself within the next year it would be arranged for him to marry the duke's daughter, Marlene. He didn't mind, he wasn't a romantic like James and did not believe that he would find 'The One', at least not within the time range. No, as long as his future wife was a pleasant person and someone he wouldn't hate to share a home, bed and children with, he could marry whoever the king and queen wanted him to, and Lady Marlene fulfilled all those requirements. When he thought about his future family he simply saw himself and his wife producing a few heirs and then he would tell her that he was perfectly fine with her sharing other men's beds and he would go back to his mistresses and most likely adopt any eventual illegitimate children – his and his wife if the father wasn't willing to. He didn't wish any poor b***, the lives illegitimate children often got if the fathers (and sometimes mothers) wouldn't take them in. So there was that too. He had no wish of marry someone who wouldn't accept him sleeping with others after having children to inherit him. That was everything he wanted out from married life, except children when that time came. One thing was for sure; he was going to be a better father than his own ever was.  
And he was distantly related to James so he had a place in the succession to the throne of Gryffindor, but it was highly unlikely he would ever reach it – not that he wanted to, he dearly wished he would never sit on the throne. Even duke was too much of a responsibility for him, but he agreed to mock his parents and to make the burden of the

throne a bit easier for James to carry.  
"Lord Peter Pettigrew, knight in the royal forces of Gryffindor, heir to Count Alexander Pettigrew of Aleria."  
"Sir Remus Lupin, lord of the Lupin Estate, knight in the royal forces of Gryffindor and member of the Crown Prince's personal guard."

All of them paraded toward the throne with James in the lead. Sirius smirked when he saw Remus freeze for a second when he glanced toward the crowd of court people surrounding them and got to see Sirius' younger cousin, Lady Nymphadora Tonks, in there. He had to bite his own tongue when he watched his friend's struggle to keep a big grin off his face. He succeeded pretty well, but those who knew him as good as they did wouldn't have any trouble recognizing the face he pulled. He couldn't understand why Remus absolutely refused to admit that he was in love with the young noblewoman. He had met her once or twice and knew she was perfect for Remus. Beautiful, slightly wild, had a lot of humour, was curious, kind and loyal. She was one of the few noblewomen his age (or any age) he found pleasure in being around. Most of the noblewomen in the court at home were quite boring and didn't do much more than giggle and tell gossip. At least not when he was around.

(A/N – I am in no way opinionated this way about women – I am one myself. I just write like I think a nobleman during this time would think)

They reached the proper interval to the platform the throne was placed on and sank down on one knee, all of them, bowing their heads.  
"My Queen." James greeted, still bowing.  
"Rise, Prince James, Lord Black, Lord Pettigrew, Sir Remus." Queen Tanwen II of Hufflepuff said with a kind voice. They rose. In front of them the entire royal family was sitting. Queen Tanwen sat on the big throne in the middle – the monarch's throne. Next to her, her husband, King Timotheus, sat in a slightly smaller throne. To the right of the queen the prince sat, Prince Tristan, and to the left of the king she sat. Princess Isolde.  
Peter had been right when he said that she was beautiful. James hadn't seen her since he was eight years old, and very few are beautiful at that age, but now, at sixteen, she truly was a beauty. She had long black hair, styled into an intricate hair style. Her skin was pale as porcelain, perfectly fitting into the latest beauty trend, and she had big blue eyes. She wore a dress in the colour of oranges. The symbolism was obvious – Gryffindor red and Hufflepuff yellow mixed becomes orange. She knew why they – no why he – was here even if no proposal would happen tonight.

"We are honoured to have you here, your highness." The queen said. "And we hope you are going to enjoy your stay. Just tell me, my husband, my children, or any part of our staff if there is anything you need and we will do anything in our power to give it to you."  
"I – we – are honoured to be here, your majesty." James replied. He had the highest rank, so he was the one to speak.

Queen Tanwen smiled.  
"Tomorrow night a ball will be held to celebrate your presence here at my court. I trust you will be rested after your journey until then?"  
"Of course your majesty. It is an honour." James hesitated. "If I may…?"  
"Go on, my prince."  
"Our other ship, _Hawk of Veritaz_. We lost sight of her in the storm yesterday. If your majesty could send someone out to see if the ship and crew is unharmed, I would be forever grateful."  
"I will arrange for a ship to be sent out to search for her. Now, I suppose you are tired after your journey. If you wish to sup with me and my family you are very welcome, but if you are too tired we understand. If you wish you can call for a servant and they will carry your food to your chambers."  
"Thank you, your majesty."  
"You may leave, your highness, milords, Sir Remus."

They bowed and left the throne room. The rest of the evening was spent in Remus' chambers where they ate supper and teased Remus for his reaction when he had seen Lady Dora.

When they eventually left the room Remus' cheeks were red and he glared at them. If gazes could kill they would all be burning ashes on the floor by now.

* * *

The next morning they took breakfast at Sirius' chambers (he and James both found it very odd not to share) and almost precisely as they had finished there came a knock on the door. Peter went to open it since they had sent away all the servants and outside a lady-in-waiting stood. She curtseyed.

"Good morning, milord. Is Sir Remus here? I was told he should be here."  
Remus frowned and stood up before walking up to the lady and Peter.  
"Good morning, milady." He bowed. "I am Sir Remus."  
She smiled.  
"I am Lady Adyna, and I am serving Lady Dora and she wonders if you wish to take a ride in an hour?"

Remus' eyes widened and he turned to his friends and looked at them, silently asking them if it was okay if he abandoned them for a while. James and Sirius smirked knowingly and nodded. The knight turned back to Lady Adyna.  
"I would find it highly enjoyably to ride with Lady Dora. Could you be so kind and tell her that I will meet her in the Entrance Hall in an hour?"  
"Naturally, sir." She curtseyed and left again and Remus smiled foolishly as he turned back to his friends after closing the door.

Sirius whistled.  
"Someone is in lo-ove." He teased and Remus blushed.  
"Shut up. I have not even seen her for almost two years."  
"I hear no denying!" James grinned as Remus blew a raspberry at them. Childish, but only they were there after all.

Just as Remus made himself ready to leave for his ride with Lady Dora someone knocked on the door once more. This time Sirius was the one to rise and get it. As he opened the door he gave away a surprised sound before immediately falling down into a low bow.  
"Your highness." He said and moved, still bowing, out of the way so the person in the door could enter if he or she wished. It could only be two persons; the prince or the princess.  
"Rise, milord." A woman's voice came. The princess then. Princess Isolde of Hufflepuff entered the room and everyone else immediately bowed deeply, Remus and Peter lower than James. She was much less formally dressed today, in a simple light purple gown and a primitive but elegant hairstyle. Not that it made her any less beautiful. Too bad James preferred green eyes. Wait. Where did that come from? He wondered. Since when had he decided which eye colour he preferred? "And you too." She added.  
She turned to James.

"I was wondering, your highness" Princess Isolde said "if you could give me a bit of your day. I would like to show you our castle."  
What she really meant, everyone understood easily, was: if I'm going to marry you I want to know you first. James nodded and took her hand before kissing it.  
"It would be an honour, your highness."  
"Oh, lovely. Meet me outside the throne room in half-an-hour."  
James agreed and the princess left once more, but not before winking toward Remus in a pretty improper way.  
"The Lady Nymphadora has eagerly awaited your arrival, Sir Remus." She said and smirked before leaving. It took everything Remus had not to blush in front of her.  
Remus left the chambers soon after the princess, dressed in riding clothes, and looking eager. He hadn't met Lady Dora since James' 15th birthday and his knighting, but he had written letters with her ever since. When James and Sirius had sneaked in and counted the letters – counted, not read – they had found out that it had been about one letter every month, which was a lot seeing how slow the post system was – especially since Hufflepuff was overseas.

There wasn't much to do, so James, Sirius and Peter sat down in the couch and did nothing special until it was time for James to get ready for the tour with Princess Isolde. Neither Sirius nor Peter had anything they had to do today, so they planned on exploring the castle. They obviously had to be less obvious now when they were men than when they were children, but it was still a favourite activity of theirs, finding secret passageways and such. Just like the Castle of Gryffindor and the Castle of Hogwarts – the two castles they had gotten the chance to explore – the Castle of Hufflepuff had to be filled with them.

* * *

In the meantime James and Princess Isolde had reached the castle garden and were sauntering next to the rose bushes and great trees side by side. Princess Isolde was talking about a ballet she had been to last week, and how wonderful it had been. James had only been to a ballet once or twice in his life so he didn't have much to say.  
"So, your highness." The princess asked. "Do you like ballet?"  
James considered lying but decided that wasn't the best way to start a relationship, so he shook his head.  
"No, I am afraid not. I have always had a hard time sitting still, you see, your highness. I prefer riding or fencing, over watching other people to it onstage."  
She nodded and they continued their walk. They found out that they didn't have much in common at all, except that both wanted the best for their kingdoms. While James liked climbing and walking and sailing, the princess Isolde became seasick and preferred to walk in the gardens or watch the Tournaments. Even though she would've been allowed to participate in some Hufflepuffian tournaments since also women could be knights – just with more effort than men – in Hufflepuff she would rather watch. She liked theatre and painting and reading, and James liked to actually do things himself instead of doing them through someone else.

Oh, she was pleasant enough. She behaved with the perfect mix of courtesy and intimacy that fit for a prince and princess meeting, she was kind and she certainly didn't show any evidence of having a prejudiced bone in her body against commoners or people of lower status. James was sure that if it came to it, he could learn to love her, just like his parents had told him he would. But she wasn't… she would be a wonderful mother and queen, he knew it, but she wasn't what he wanted. In his inner eye he saw something red and green flash, but when he blinked it disappeared. Suddenly their conversation was interrupted by the sound of laughter. They had now reached the castle wall, and on the other side lied a great field filled with green grass.

As they looked up James couldn't help but smile. There were two riders out there. Remus and Sirius' cousin and – even though he refused to admit it – Remus' sweetheart Lady Nymphadora Tonks. It seemed like they were competing. Then James realized something that made his eyes widen for a moment. Lady Nymphadora wore trousers. The only woman he had ever seen doing that was Miss Evans and she was a commoner while the lady on the field was nobility. But he quickly hid his surprise and smiled when he heard his friend's laughter. Remus didn't have many friends outside the Marauders since many nobles still had a hard time accepting him since he wasn't a noble but still a knight, and the commoners had a hard time knowing how to act around him. Therefore it was joyous to see Remus having fun without them there.

"They sure look happy together." Princess Isolde commented out of nowhere. James winced in surprise, he had almost forgotten she was there. He nodded.  
"Yes. They have been keeping contact ever since my 15th birthday. I would think they are glad to meet again."  
The princess nodded absentmindedly and they continued their walk. As they reached a small duck pond filled with ducklings and their mother, she stopped and bowed down to pet one of the yellow little ones.

The black haired man too kneeled on the ground to get into a suitable height difference to her.  
"I know why you are here." She said suddenly. "You are here to ask for my hand."  
There was no reason to deny it so James simply nodded, waiting for her to continue speaking. Soon she did.  
"I want you to know that I have no objections. If my mother chooses to accept I will do my duty and do my best to be a good wife and a good queen when that time comes. You need not worry."

James hadn't expected her to say anything of this, but he had known that she would do what her duty told her to do. She was the perfect princess and would do anything for her country. He would too, but it was just too bad that he wasn't able to be a perfect prince. That he didn't love her. But he couldn't say anything of this, so he only said:  
"I know."

* * *

Remus laughed as he legged Galaxy on to get closer to Lady Dora. She too rode a Phoenix horse, so it was a fair race. He admitted that he had been slightly shocked when she had been waiting for him dressed in trousers, a tunic like his own but with bigger bust, and boots. But she had laughed at him and told him he better get used to it because here in Hufflepuff women too wore trousers when they would do things when it was inconvenient with skirts, and she would not change to make him more comfortable. Luckily he had already been used to Lily wearing trousers even if her's weren't as well-fitting since she didn't have as much money as Lady Dora did, and was able to forget the absence of a dress pretty quickly. The young lady glanced backwards and hurried her own horse on a little more.  
"Run, Pink, _run_!" Pink, or 'Pink Ball of Fury' as the white horse was actually named by the lady herself, longed her steps and Lady Dora gave him a triumphant gaze as the distance between them both got bigger again.  
"Oh, no. You're not winning this, milady!" Remus called out and grinned as Lady Dora smirked. He told Galaxy to go a little faster again and they got closer to Pink once again. This was the best race he had had for a while. It had been at least two months since he and his friends had had a race just for fun and they had all missed it but been too busy to hold one.

"Take me if you can then, good sir!" She teasingly yelled back. They got closer and closer to the forest on the other side of the field and the forest was the goal. The castle of Hufflepuff was placed on the side of the city so they just had to leave the castle area to get out of the city and be free to compete.

Remus felt tears in his eyes from the wind that tore his face, but he kept grinning. This was how a race was supposed to be. It was fantastic. He got closer and closer to Lady Dora as they came nearer the forest – it was a glen, really, hardly more than two miles bigger in difference to the fifteen plus miles of the Autumn forest next to Gryffindale – but then he heard Lady Dora's cry of victory and realized that with only ten more feet until he would've passed her. She had reached the forest and won. She grinned widely as they slowed down and finally came to a halt, side by side.  
"Ha! I won!" She exclaimed cheerfully. "I won I won I won!"

Remus couldn't help but laugh. The gloat that with his friends – James and Sirius, Peter didn't gloat (not that he won anything often, but he didn't when he won) – was pretty annoying was when she did it great. He couldn't help but feel happy over her victory, which confused him. Why should he be happy over her winning? He shrugged.  
"You won." He agreed, smiling. "Now where to go?"

"I think I know a place." She said, pouting over that he took her gloating so well, but soon she was smiling again. She didn't say anything more and just gestured for him to follow her.

* * *

They made their way through the forest, or glen, until they must've come halfway through it. Then they suddenly came out close to a pond in the middle of it all, filled with water lilies and a deer and her fawn was standing there, drinking, but they ran away when they came out. It was beautiful.  
"Wow…" The young knight gasped. He had never seen anything like it. Lady Dora smiled and nodded.

"I know. I used to come here with my father when we were visiting Diagon before he got hurt." Lord Theodore "Ted" Tonks of Evermore Falls had been thrown off a horse a year prior. He hadn't been lethally hurt, but he can't do too wild things anymore, so riding was out of the question since you never knew what a horse would do.

They sat off the horses and tied them to a branch before walking down to the pond. Lady Dora sat down and took off her boots before dipping her feet in the water, making a fish flee in fright. After a moment Remus sat down and did the same thing. They just sat there for a few moments in a comfortable silence before Remus looked up at her and felt a tingle in his stomach again when he saw the smile on her face. She looked over toward him and winked before putting her hand in the water. She just dragged it forward and backward for a few moments before suddenly throwing a handful of water at him.

Mostly out of surprise, Remus gave away a small yell and fell backwards, landing on his back. He was glad he had been sitting down.  
The brown haired woman began to laugh loudly but after a moment she fell quiet as she saw the devious grin on the knight's face.  
"You'll pay for that." Remus hissed, with a low but slightly cheerful voice before dipping his hands into the water and throwing water back in her face. She screamed as it hit her face but was quick to dive toward the water. Soon they were in the middle of a great water war.

Suddenly Lady Dora just appeared behind Remus and gave him a shove. Remus cried out and grabbed the lady's arm to keep himself from falling but only succeeded to make her fall too. They both fell in the water and spluttered as they tried to coordinate themselves to get up. Luckily it wasn't deep and they only had water to the waist or stomach. As Remus watched Lady Dora drag her long hair out of her face he felt that tingle again. He suddenly realized what it was. It seemed like his friends had been right, after all, annoyingly enough. Perhaps he was a teensy-weensy bit in love with the beautiful noble. He didn't really know what to do with this realization, because while it was possible – not likely, but possible – that she felt the same way for him, she was still nobility, daughter to a count and a former Black, and he, while he was a knight, was a commoner. It wasn't like it could be anything.

Lady Dora growled and curled up for a moment before throwing herself on him and making him fall over again. This really wasn't proper, neither by him nor by a noblewoman – really not by a noblewoman, but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. He surely would regret it later but he would handle it when that moment came.  
She was surprisingly strong for a woman, but he supposed that, from what he had seen today, he wouldn't be surprised if she trained to keep herself strong, and their wrestling match was pretty hard, but in the end he succeeded to get advantage of his naturally stronger male body and pinned her to the ground. She was growling but her purple eyes were sparkling. He was enchanted by those eyes, he had never seen purple eyes before and they were so beautiful. After trying to get away a little more she suddenly sighed.  
"Okay, okay, I give up! I surrender!" She said sourly but with a laughing undertone. Remus smiled and would just get off her when she looked at him in a way that made him completely overwhelmed. Without thinking – really without thinking, if he hadn't been so intoxicated with Dora, he would never ever have done this; It really wasn't something a well-educated young man should do – he swallowed and looked a little hesitant.

"Can I… I mean… May I kiss you?" he asked and she looked stunned for a moment. Just as he began to regret it and to form an excuse she grinned again and nodded.  
After a moment of shock he bowed down and pressed his lips to her. They were so soft. She began to kiss back. Neither of them had done anything like this before, so it was a little gawky and their noses crashed, but if you would ask either afterwards, it was perfect, there on the green grass next to the pond in the middle of a forest.  
As they pulled away after a few moments they both stared at each other, their eyes glossy, before smiles slowly made their way toward their faces. They both stood up.  
"I think I might be in love with you." Remus admitted timidly and a big, big smile showed up on Lady Dora's face.  
"How fortunate, because I know I am in love with you too." She said and pressed another kiss to his lips. As they pulled away again she grinned.

"Now you simply must call me Dora." She had already told him to, but he hadn't thought it was proper. But nothing was proper anymore, so Remus nodded, smiling widely.  
"Dora." He whispered, feeling a happy feeling in his stomach.  
They spent another hour next to the pond, letting their clothes dry and making themselves presentable again before they could go home. Then Remus and Dora slowly rode through the forest, just enjoying each other's company and small talking quietly. Years later, Remus would remember this as one of the extremely few occasions when Dora was actually was calm. She never was calm.

* * *

When Remus, an hour later walked into James' chambers, where they had all agreed to meet afterwards all his friends were already there.  
"What are you grinning like that for?" Peter asked curiously and Remus simply shook his head before taking place in an armchair. Sirius whistled.  
"Ohhhh. I think our dear Moony finally has admitted that he is in love with my cousin, and judging from his stupid smile she felt the same."  
Remus, Peter and James all stared at Sirius in shock.  
"How did you know that, Paddy?" James asked curiously. Sirius wasn't the perceptive kind normally. Sirius rolled his eyes.  
"I've seen enough people fall in love to know. And seen enough people fall in love with me to know."

* * *

That evening the welcome ball would be held in their – but mostly James' – honour. So they got servants to bring them their clothes to James' chamber and they all changed in the company of each other. They were loud and laughed a lot as usual, but they all noticed how James got more and quieter as the time went by and the ball came closer. He wouldn't propose today either. It would probably happen tomorrow or the day after that, but every second took them closer to the moment when James' entire future would be decided. As they all wore their formal clothes James' chamberlain Nathan went into the wardrobe and came out with a red silk pillow. On it a small crown lied. It was gold with rubies adorning it. The crown of the Heir of Gryffindor. James carefully took it in his hands and placed it on his messy hair that no one ever succeeded to tame.  
Now when they had gotten dressed, they had a servant show them the way to the great ballroom where the ball was to be held. It had already begun, of course, for the lower classes. The higher your rank was, the later you came. Normally the king or queen arrived last, and today they would. This evening they kind of had a higher status than the monarch, since they were the honorary-guests. When their turn came they walked out on the stairs where the herald stood. Remus came first and the man announced his name and title.

"Sir Remus Lupin of the Lupin Estate, knight of the royal forces of Gryffindor and member of his highness Prince James' personal guard."  
Remus smiled toward someone downstairs, James guessed Lady Dora, and walked down. Next out was Peter.  
"Lord Peter Pettigrew of Aleria, knight of the royal forces of Gryffindor and heir to Count Alexander Pettigrew of Aleria."  
Peter walked down. Sirius was next.  
"His Grace, Lord Sirius Black III of Grimmauld, disinherited marquis of Grimmauld, knight of the royal forces of Gryffindor, heir to his Grace Duke William McKinnon of Gryffindale and twelfth in line to the throne of Gryffindor."  
Sirius walked downstairs. Only James left.  
"His royal highness, James of the Gryffindor Dynasty, the count of Hogsmeade, marquis of Gryffindale and Whinging, supreme commander of the Royal Forces, duke of Godric's Hollow and heir to his Majesty King Fleamont I of the Kingdom of Gryffindor."

James stepped out and straightened his back where he stood, feet wide apart and head held high, just like he was taught to. He looked down at all the people downstairs and felt them staring at him. He didn't show anything, just waited until the right time and walked down the stairs to join the people there.

His friends were standing close to each other. On Remus' arm was Lady Nymphadora, standing next to him, just a little, a little too close than what was appropriate. James smirked slightly. Sirius had definitely been right before, it was so obvious that they were deeply in love already. Or 'already', they had known each other for years even though they had only met personally twice.  
"Milady." James bowed and kissed her hand when she held it out. She curtseyed deeply.  
"Your highness. An honour to meet you."  
James smiled.  
"An honour to meet you too, milady. Moony – Remus – have told us a lot about you."  
All of them, including Dora, chuckled when Remus blushed slightly.

"Moony?" She asked, turning to Remus. Rather rude, actually, to turn away from your superior, but James willingly let it slip. She could most likely be the love of one of his best friends' lives, after all. Remus shrugged.

"We gave ourselves nicknames based on our personal emblems. I have got a wolf – Moony, Peter has a rat – Wormtail, Sirius has a dog – Padfoot, and James has got a stag – Prongs. We came up with them at fifteen, after my knighting."  
Dora nodded. James liked her, she didn't think it strange that people like them had 'silly nicknames' as he had heard them be called when no one thought they heard. Stupid. There was _nothing_ stupid with their nicknames.

Soon they had to go socializing and they all parted except for Remus and Lady Dora. It seemed like Lady Dora was Remus' lady for the evening. James hoped Remus had gotten her father's permission, he knew that these things could go badly otherwise. He had witnessed it personally when a young lady from the court at home had fallen in love with a baron. She had been the daughter of a marquis, so they hadn't been able to be together since her father wouldn't allow it. In the end they had run away, but they had gotten caught and she had been married off to an older duke who had had his eyes on the young beauty for a while. The young baron had been forced to leave the country and emigrate to Ravenclaw by the pressure from society and had left his title to his brother-in-law. James did not know what had happened to either.

The music began to play and soon he saw Remus and Lady Dora, and Sirius and a young lady swirl around the dance floor. James was talking to a member of the parliament who happened to be a commoner. The man had some interesting ideas, actually, and James promised to think of them when he was back home. Then the queen and her husband suddenly showed up. James and the man bowed deeply as the royal couple reached them.

"Your majesties." They said and the queen and king smiled.  
"Stand, your highness, Mr Edwards." King Timotheus said and they straightened their backs. "I do hope you are enjoying the ball, your highness?"  
James bowed lowly.  
"I am, your majesty."  
"I am glad."  
Then Queen Tanwen smiled again, even though her eyes were serious. Her husband's eyes looked the same.  
"My daughter told me that you spent some time together today." She commented lightly, but it was easy to understand that it was a deep underlying meaning in the words. James nodded.  
"We did, your majesty. Her highness is truly a wonderful person. Her company was most pleasurable."

The queen's eyes looked a little less serious at this. She nodded.  
"She told me the same about you, your highness." She stopped for a moment before continuing. "I am sure we can come to an agreement."  
She didn't elaborate, but it was pretty clear what she meant. For a moment James felt like he couldn't breathe. She had decided then. He would marry Princess Isolde of Hufflepuff. No return now, unless he ran away, but he couldn't betray his country. Something like that could possibly make Hufflepuff declare the alliance invalid too, and that would deprive Gryffindor of one of their most important allies in the coming war. No, if – when – the queen told him yes when he proposed to the princess he would have no other choice than marry her. He didn't have any other choice now either. The only way out of it would be if Queen Tanwen said no, and now it was obvious she wouldn't. But he quickly schooled his face back into a formal look before the royals or Mr Edwards could notice.

"I am very glad, your majesty." He simply told her. They talked a little more before they left. Mr Edwards had already done that after understanding that he had nothing with the conversation to do. James was alone again.

He saw the princess. She was wearing a dress in sparkling red silk. She seemed to see him but he quickly turned around before she would notice that he had seen her. He had go to get out of here. Now.

He quickly found Sirius who was talking to Peter and a Hogwartian diplomate and seemed to have a good time. They all bowed when James turned up and knocked Sirius' on the shoulder, but as soon as it was socially acceptable James turned to Sirius.  
"I have to get some fresh air. I will be back soon." He whispered. Sirius looked concerned.  
"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked carefully but the prince shook his head.  
"No, keep enjoying yourself. I just need to be alone a little."  
Sirius nodded and James felt grateful that his best friend was so understanding. He quickly left the ball room before someone could come and talk to him.

He felt relieved when he got a servant to show him the way out on the castle yard and could take a few calming breaths of the evening cold air. But he knew where he needed to be to be able to forget for a while. The same place as he always had hid in when he was a child. He quickly made his way to the stables.

* * *

The stables were almost as nice as the ones at home, but except their warriors one thing Gryffindor was famous for was their horse keeping. Few places was as good with horses as they were. He quickly found his way in after making sure there was no stable hands or riders there and found Midnight Madness' stall. The sabino-coloured horse simply snorted of happiness when his master came up to him. James petted the horse's head and sighed in relief as the horse buffed at him, begging for treats. Horses were such simple beings. Sure, they had an immense amount of intelligence and he loved them, but compared to humans they wanted so little from him. The only people he could trust that they would not ask for more than he was willing to give was his best friends, his fellow Marauders. Until before this whole marriage-affair he had counted his parents to that group, but no longer. He didn't blame them, he knew they only did what was best for the kingdom and he knew he would probably do the same in their situation, but they still asked for more than he wanted to give. His freedom.  
Oh, he had never been free, he knew that. As a prince he lived a more privileged life than most, but he too lived a much more restricted life, filled with duties and rules. As a child he hadn't realized it, but as he got older he understood. He got much, but he had to give even more in return. His duty was to give his whole self to the best of his kingdom, not less. Sometimes even more – others' whole self. Everything his horse wanted from him was his kindness and that he fulfilled his basic needs.

Suddenly he felt exhausted. He leaned toward the tree wall of the stall and slid down to the floor. He didn't care if he got straw over his clothes, he could always get new. Another privilege of being royalty, you never had to care about money. About money when it came to these things. Instead you had to care for the budget for a whole country. After a moment Mad lied down next to him and put his head in James' lap. It was incredible how much this animal trusted him. James could honestly say that except his friends and family, he loved this horse more than anyone. Suddenly another flash of red and green showed up in front of his inner eye, but he did not have the energy to think about it. He simply began to comb Mad's mane and hope that everything would be fine in the end.

It wasn't only the marriage he was upset over and afraid for, of course. It was a rather… complicated situation. While he definitely didn't want an arranged marriage and he was mourning his lost freedom and lost possibility for true love, like Remus and Lady Dora, he could live with it. But as soon as he got married he knew that he would be supposed to have a family of his own, and to participate even more in the governing of the kingdom. He had no idea how to be a husband, how to be a father, or how to rule a kingdom. But his parents were old. His father was old. As soon as he had gotten married he would probably have to take over a big part of the ruling, and he wasn't ready. He would destroy everything. He would plunge his kingdom into destruction, because what did he know about being a ruler?

He hadn't heard footsteps behind him, he had been to engrossed in his own problems and in Mad, so he jumped slightly when he heard a voice behind him, and Mad's head twitched by the unexpected movement.  
"Watch out, that horse is dange…" It was a familiar voice, which now only sounded confused. "Your highness?" Miss Evans' voice asked. "Aren't you supposed to be at the ball?"  
James looked up at her and nodded tiredly. By some reason he felt a little comfort when he saw her flaming red hair and kind green eyes. Those eyes were so incredibly green, almost unnaturally so, and they were definitely very beautiful.  
"I am. I just needed a moment for myself and my whole life I have always come to the stables when I needed it if I had the possibility."  
She got something understanding in her gaze even if she still looked confused. Probably she understood the need of being close to horses, because James could easily tell that she most likely loved horses just as much as he did.

"Should I… leave?" Lily asked, unsure. She didn't know how to react upon finding the prince sitting in a stall in the stables when he was supposed to be on a fancy ball at the royal castle. The prince seemed to think about it for a moment before he did something unexpected and shook his head.  
"No, please, stay." He asked. He had something desperate in his eyes that made Lily feel entirely unable to leave. It was something with him that made her instincts tell her that he needed her. It was ridiculous, they didn't even know each other and she wasn't too happy in him, but she stayed. After a moment of hesitation she opened the door to the stall and took place next to Prince James. Such insolence she showed. Normally she would probably have to pay dearly for it, but tonight he only looked grateful.

She watched Midnight Madness' head in his lap. At least he obviously had hand with horses, she had to admit. She wasn't too fond with the ruler class, but this proved that he at least had a kind heart. No bad man could have a horse trust him that boundlessly like the Phoenix horse obviously did – his whole body screamed trust – and especially not a horse like Mad. She was the only one who had been able to handle the sabino-coloured horse by her own this long, except the horse's master – Prince James, who now was sitting here stroking the head of the horse.

"So…" Lily wasn't sure if she was allowed to speak, but her curiosity got the better of her as usual. "Why aren't you at the ball, your highness?"  
Something in the prince's eyes seemed to break and he looked down at the mane of the horse.  
"Please, Miss Eva… Lily." She couldn't help but stare at him. He had never called her by her name before. Not that she had asked him to. And he sounded so hopeless. "Not… not tonight. Right now I need to be James. Not the prince, not the heir to the throne of Gryffindor, not the man who should be inside the castle right now, dancing with the princess or something. Just James. Could you please call me by my name instead?"  
Lily would without doubt admit that this was the second most shocking moment in her life, after getting to know that both her parents were dead by the same horse accident. Was this really the same man who had saved her from robbers in the forest, who had insulted her for being a woman and who had sailed a ship through a raging storm without a doubt? She wasn't sure, actually. He looked the same and he sounded the same, but he was completely different.

She nodded mutely.  
"Sure, you… James."

Prince James – no, James – smiled gratefully and leaned backwards toward the wall.  
"You want to know why I am here?" he asked and Lily nodded again. He swallowed. "Do you know why we are here, in Hufflepuff?"  
Lily nodded for a third time.  
"You shall propose to the princess."  
Now it was James turn to nod.  
"I am. And on the ball the queen told me something that let me know with a 99.99% guarantee that she will answer yes on her daughter's behalf. I am to marry Princess Isolde, Lily, and I am afraid. I am not ready to marry, and I do not wish to have an arranged marriage." He said heavily. Lily thought she knew what this was about. When her cousin's marriage got arranged she too had been afraid of marry. But it had ended happily, the man chosen for her was a good one. Lily too knew how it was to be in an arranged engagement, that was the biggest part on why she ran away from her sister and her husband's home where she had lived ever since their parents died, since a woman could not live on her own. She 'needed' a guardian – a male. In her case, her brother-in-law, Vernon Dursley. If her mother had been alive Vernon would've been her guardian too, even though Mrs Evans had been twenty years older than her daughter's husband. The laws were completely ridiculous.

"You do not wish for an arranged marriage." She repeated. She gave him a small smile. "That is normal. You are allowed to feel this way, no one will blame you."

James smiled sadly and looked at her with eyes that didn't fit in his young face. Of course, his eyes in themselves fit perfectly, hazel brown and a form that was perfect for the young man, but the gaze in the eyes did not fit in the face she had seen laughing and climbing in the rig on _the Marauder_ , and neither did they fit in the youthful and lively face of the man that had saved her in the forest of Gryffindale. He dragged a hand through his hair, something that he seemed to do often. It annoyed her even if she didn't understand why, but she didn't say anything.

"But I am not normal, Lily." He petted the cheek of Mad while he spoke and the horse seemed to be on his way to fall asleep in the prince's lap. She was actually impressed how good hand he had with horses. "I am not a commoner, like you or Remus, nor am I any noble, like perhaps Peter. I am the crown prince of Gryffindor, and I have a duty to my kingdom. I am supposed to, I must, put my kingdom before everything, and miles before my own personal feelings. I should not feel like this, I am not allowed to feel like this. Princess Isolde would be a perfect queen of Gryffindor, but still I do not wish to marry her. I do not love her. I do not even know her. And I am – I cannot believe I am admitting this for anyone, even less someone I hardly know – I am afraid, Lily. As soon as I get married I am going to get more duties. My father will probably give me my own army to lead in the coming war. I have trained the royal guard for years and led them in battle and hunted with them, but this is completely different. This would be an _army_ , Lily. _An army_ , which will follow me and obey my every command. I will have them all killed. I know it. I cannot do this. And my father is old. It is not unlikely that I will be crowned to king within the next years. I do not know how to be a king!" He sounded slightly desperate now. "I am so, so deeply afraid, Lily." Strangely he also seemed to find some comfort in saying her name. She almost shrugged but didn't want him to believe it was because she found his problems trivial, because they really weren't, she couldn't imagine having an entire country relying on you, and so she didn't. Instead she only nodded.

"I do not want to be a king." He continued, his voice dropping and becoming lower and harder to hear. "I do not want a whole kingdom's destiny resting on my shoulders, the lives of my men. But it is my duty, my birth right, and I have no choice. I am selfish, for I even though of, for a second, to abdicate and leave the throne to my cousin even though I know he will not put the country first, that they are even less suited for being a king than I am. But mostly I am selfish because I wish for the queen to say no to my proposal, even though that is not the best for Gryffindor. I wish it with my whole heart."

He swallowed and dragged his hand down his face, blinking furiously. She wondered if he was forcing back tears but decided not to find out. It would probably embarrass him deeply if he was. Men's egos was so fragile. There was nothing shameful with crying, but apparently men thought so. And apparently most women thought it was when men did so.

Lily had no idea what to say, how were you _supposed_ to react when your prince and future king came and confessed how afraid he was of ruling a country? She also had no idea why he told her this, and apparently he hadn't either judging from what he had said before.

She sighed lowly and decided to only do what she would've done if he was one of her old friends from Cokeworth or more fitting, one of her newer ones from Gryffindale. Consequences be damned, she couldn't just sit here and stare when he emptied his heart for her and looked that… pathetic. If he wanted to have her disciplined for it, then so be it. She moved closer to him and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

For a moment James froze, most likely shocked that she dared to and she felt a moment of regret for what she was doing before he threw his own arms around her and hugged back. He seemed grateful. She wasn't entirely sure how long they sat there, but after a while they parted. She blushed slightly, she had actually been stupid enough to hug the prince of Gryffindor, and he seemed slightly confused but he seemed to feel better, so that was always something. They sat quiet.  
"Thank you." He finally said. "For listening."

Lily smiled and threw her braid over her shoulder so it got back on her back.  
"You're welcome."

They settled back against the stall's wall again and just talked quietly for a while, about trivial things. Mostly horses since both James and Lily both loved the animals, but also things like family even if she was pretty quiet about the subject. She didn't want to talk about her sister or brother-in-law.

But she found out that James had always wanted a sibling, and that that probably was a part in the reason to why he had had so easy to see his friends as brothers. Especially Sirius, then, but also other things. She also found out that he had taken the name _Captain Potter_ as alias on the sea as a last honouring of his childhood-friend, his first friend, Kyle Potter. Kyle had been the son of his wet nurse (Lily thought it ridiculous that noble women apparently were too noble to feed their own babies even if James defended his mother saying that she had done it sometimes) and died in the plague once when James was visiting the Black estate – Grimmauld. On the same time she got to know how he befriended Sirius, which had happened because he had ran away when the message about his friend's death had reached him.

"I am better friends with Sirius – and Remus and Peter – than I ever was or would have been with Kyle. But I felt I could honour my first friend by taking his surname. It would never have worked when we grew up, and I would probably have left him for Sirius, especially since Sirius doesn't work well with servants, but still. I think my dear Nurse appreciated it, too, when I told her."

Lily nodded. She had gotten to know more about James in half an hour in the stables of Diagon than she had during a year in the royal stables of Gryffindale. She had to admit that he wasn't such an arrogant jerk as he had seemed to be. He did have a heart. And somewhere deep inside her something told her that maybe, just maybe, she liked him a bit. Or perhaps a little more than liked. But she hoped not. It had not ended well the last time she had gotten deeper feelings for a man, and she would not repeat the mistake.

He had gotten to know that she had come to Gryffindale because she ran away after her brother-in-law and sister had arranged a marriage for her with a man she couldn't stand. She had heard that there was always work in Gryffindale and had fled together with Domino.

They sat there for a few more moments, petting Mad and not doing much, before James looked slightly shocked and stared at her, deep into her eyes.  
"What?" Lily asked, curiously, as James continued to stare.  
"Lily." He said, sounding surprised and like he was mustering all his courage at once. "I think I have fallen in love with you."

* * *

 **Review!**

 **So sorry it took such a long time for this to update. But I just couldn't get it right. Especially the ending of the chapter. I'm still not entirely happy with how it turned out but it's much better than what I wrote first.**

 **By the way, I think I'm going to add some interludes, with "flashbacks" back to childhood before all this happened. Between (or before) the first chapter when they met Remud the prologue. What do you think?**

 **I hope this was better than the last chapter because that wasn't good. But I promise, as soon as they get back to Gryffindor things will be more interesting. I hope.**


	10. Chapter VIII: Alliance part III (part 1)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or the Marauders**

Lily's face was blank as she stared at him. She blinked once, twice, and then her eyes grew wide. She opened her mouth in an attempt to speak, but didn't seem to succeed, so she closed it again. A loop of red hair that had escaped her braid fell into her face but for once she didn't seem to care and just. Kept. Staring. She opened her mouth again and closed it. James began to quietly curse himself inside his head, but kept his face sincere. He knew he shouldn't have said that. Firstly, he was a prince and she was a stable hand, and secondly, he was going to get married, but it had just slipped out. Not that that was an excuse. He knew he was behaving in an unacceptable way, he shouldn't be here at all, he should be inside at the ball, but… His thoughts was interrupted by a loud and shrill " _What_?!" that made Mad wince and throw his head upwards in surprise.  
The prince swallowed. No backing out now, right? And since when had a Marauder ever backed out from anything? If he could face Minnie's wrath, he could face Lily's. He thought.

He had ducked his head and had been staring at Mad while he had been reprimanding himself but now he looked up at the young woman who sat next to him. She had backed away slightly and James felt slightly hurt when he realized but hurried to get rid of those feelings. She had every right in the world to react badly, after all. He took a deep breath and prepared himself. He just prayed to the gods that no one would get to know about this, that Lily wouldn't tell anyone, and that this wouldn't ruin whatever he had begun to build up with her during the evening.  
"I think I have fallen in love with you." He repeated, dragging his fingers through his hair. A nervous habit that all his teachers, nurses and guardians had tried to get out of him but hadn't succeeded. He noticed that Lily had balled her hands into fists where they were placed on the ground. "My thoughts have been occupied by you for days even though I did not realize it was you, and now… yes, I am definitely in love with you, Lily Evans."

The red head gaped at him, seemingly still in a condition of a minor shock. Then her facial expressions changed, as if she expected him to break out laughing anytime and tell her it was a joke, how stupid she was who thought that he, the Prince, would fall in love with her, a stable girl. After a moment she seemed to understand that wasn't the case, even more when she quickly studied his face. He knew he shouldn't, but he kind of liked having her looking at him even though it was with that absolute alarm that he was beginning to figure out she felt. Then she dragged in air between her teeth and, quieter this time so she wouldn't scare the horses again, she yelled:  
"What?" Her cheeks were beginning to turn red, but it was obvious that it was not from embarrassment but anger. For the first time in his life James actually felt worried for how a servant would react. "You're practically engaged! You can't go falling in love with anyone, and really not me, I'm not interested in romance at all and even less some kind of affair with a married man!"  
James sucked in air and waited for her to stop talking. She looked like she might hit him anytime, and he couldn't let that happen. Sure, no one was there but laws were laws. Not even Hufflepuff was liberal enough to let anyone hit royalty, especially not visitors of the kind. Rules were one thing, he and his friends broke them all the time, but not laws.  
The black haired man looked pale as he raised his hands in an unconscious act of defence. James sighed in relief as she unclenched her hands and her face returned to its normal pale but tanned self.

"I know." He said before his courage could fail him and peeled slightly at the collar of his jacket before he caught himself. "And you need not worry about that. Even though it is socially accepted, I am not the kind of man to have lovers beside my wife. I will not deny that I have had them, but when I get married I shall not." James felt a twinge of relief when she looked at least slightly less hostile as he said that, but it was still obvious that she wasn't happy with how things have turned.  
"And I know I am to marry the princess, and when I propose and the queen answers yes I will do my duty. All for my kingdom's future, and that is not something I am willing to risk. After all, without a kingdom I would be just anyone." He added with a small smirk, unable to keep himself from joking slightly. To his happiness he saw Lily's lips twitch before she could catch herself. "I do not know why I told you, to be truthful. But it is likely that my unconsciousness did not want to go into an arranged marriage without telling you. But I do know there can never be something – I am the Prince and you are a commoner. It is unheard of. But please… Lily, can we just forget this happened and be friends? I could use another friend these days, I have not got many."

That was the truth, actually. He may be popular, of course, but the only real friends he had were Sirius, Remus and Peter. They were the only ones he could be sure liked him for him and not for his title and wanted something from him. And Professor Minnie. He supposed he should call her Lady Minerva nowadays, but none of them could really bring themselves to except in formal situations and she didn't seem to mind. But they would all count her as a friend, or perhaps an extra mother. He hoped she knew that. Strict but loving and fun.

James watched anxiously as Lily seemed to think while she absentmindedly plucked straws from her tunic. He threw a glance out the window. He really should go back to the ball now before people realized he was gone but he wouldn't be able to get any peace before he had gotten her answer.

After what felt like an eternity but in all likelihood wasn't even two minutes her face relaxed and she nodded slowly.  
"Yeah, sure." She said and James felt his face break out in a grin.  
"Thank you, Lily." He stood up and began to brush straws off his trousers and jacket. "I should make my return to the ball. Are my clothes completely ruined?"  
She shook her head with a small smile. Then James froze before forcing himself to relax as she raised her hand and plucked a straw out of his hair. She raised an eyebrow at him, which he ignored as he looked around for his crown. It had fallen off. He really should be more careful with it, it was an heirloom from Godric Gryffindor himself, after all.

The commoner seemed to understand what he was looking for and she quickly bowed down to take it up. For a moment she stopped dead as she watched the gold and gleaming rubies before shaking her head slightly once more and giving it to him with a tight-lipped smile. She was mad, that much was obvious, but he didn't really have the time to find out why. He fixed his messy hair by dragging his fingers through it again before placing it on his head. Then he smiled, bowed, and kissed her hand.  
"I bid you a good night, milady." He said and her anger seemed to alleviate.  
"Same to you, _James_."  
He grinned when she used his first name, letting him know that he was forgiven, and then petted Mad one last time before making his exit.

* * *

James returned to the ball. As he reached the ball room he immediately found Sirius, Remus and Peter who stood together in a group, in the company of Lady Dora and a few more Hufflepuffian nobles and a man with the emblem of a diplomate from Hogwarts. James joined them and didn't miss the relieved gazes his friends gave him when they saw that he was okay. He gave them a reassuring smile. He wasn't fine, of course not, but he felt as good as he could if you looked at the alternatives that his life could go from now.

The rest of the ball happened in a haze. James did enjoy himself, it was a very merry event (as merry as a royal ball could be, either way) and he talked with many interesting people from all of the countries and danced with uncountable ladies, including the princess once or twice. But as the end of the ball came the clock was nearing 2 in the night and he was exhausted. Royal balls always kept going until late at night, he had been at balls until 5 in the morning more than once, but the emotional exhaustion was bigger than usual now, so as the ball ended he made his exit as quick as he could without being rude. In the company of his friends he found his way back toward the guest wing and they parted ways on the way to their chambers. It really, really was weird not to share chambers with Sirius. Their chambers were pretty close, but it was not the same thing as sharing all rooms but bed chamber and wardrobe.

Nathan had fallen asleep on the couch but woke up as James entered the room. For once James was grateful for his chamberlain, it made getting undressed and dressed in night robes so much quicker. Almost as soon as he had gotten under his duvet he fell fast asleep, deeply into the Dreamscape.

* * *

Most part of the next day was spent in meetings with Hufflepuffian dignities. Thrice the diplomate from Hogwarts from yesterday partook, but mostly James and his friends were left on their own with the Hufflepuffs. He hadn't wanted to ask his friends to partake since he knew it would be extremely boring but they had invited themselves with him as soon as they found out they were welcome, and for this he was eternally grateful. There were few things more boring than diplomatic meetings. Later that afternoon things got more interesting, though in a way non-preferable. After a dinner together with the queen and her family, time was spent in war meetings. While these obviously were less boring, they meant that it was almost sure that there would actually be a war.

For the moment they were discussing what do to if Slytherin declared war before the armies of Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had been able to mobilize.  
"It would take a lot of time for them to get to the borders of Gryffindor." Sirius pointed out. "And then of course it is most likely Emperor Voldemort would want to conquer Surrey first, so we will not be able to attack them from behind when they walk into our kingdom."  
Sirius had a talent for these things. If there was anyone who would be able to see through the tactics of the enemy it was with all likeliness the young lord.  
"I agree, milord." Lord Sprout said, nodding seriously. "So if we could secure Surrey it would be harder for the Slytherins to reach Gryffindor."

Remus nodded slowly but didn't look optimistic.  
"That is very true, but we need our militia in our own country, and Surrey's army is a joke. While His Majesty have given them permission and an order to train and recruit, there is no chance that they will be victorious against the Snakes. And as you probably understand we cannot risk to send the amount of our own soldiers that would be necessary there, since we would practically leave our land unprotected."  
"Naturally. So there is nothing that can be done to keep Emperor Voldemort from conquering Surrey?" King Timotheus asked. He, too, had joined this meeting.  
James shook his head, feeling a bit gloomy.  
"No, your majesty. Not unless King Quentin would succeed in mobilizing and getting armies ready in time, which is highly unlikely. We do not dare to risk any of our own militia to keep it, Surrey is not important enough for that. We simply must fight them back from our borders from Surrey, too."  
A heavy silence fell over the room.

* * *

Not everything was negative though. Remus and Dora were spending a lot of time together and while James, Sirius and Peter almost began to miss their friend, they were happy for him. And of course Remus made sure not to neglect his friends too, especially James who he knew would need a little extra support the nearest time.  
James hadn't had his next formal audience with the queen yet, so the proposal had yet to be made, two days later. But Remus and Dora – because she had asked them to call her Dora and in return they had asked her to use their names instead of titles – had on the day of James' audience come walking into Sirius' chambers where the other three Marauders were sitting, shining of happiness. Dora held a firm grip onto Remus' arm, hiding her left hand underneath it.

Even if James was in a dark mood he felt more cheerful as soon as they came into the room.  
"What is going on?" Peter asked curiously as the couple walked in, grins so wide that it was almost ridiculous.  
Dora nodded toward Remus and Remus took her left hand and held it up. On her finger a golden ring with a great pink diamond was placed. On her left ring finger.  
"I asked Dora's father for her hand and he said yes. We are going to get married." Remus told them, shining with happiness. His friends' mouths fell open in O's.  
"Of course," he added "not yet for a while. It was decided that it will be a longer engagement, it will be a few months until the marriage, but then…"

They both looked so felicitous and in love that it would've made someone who didn't love Remus so much feel almost sick, but he was their brother and no one of them would ever let him down when he was so happy. Of course, they were all a little down on James' behalf, and perhaps this wasn't actually the best moment to announce an engagement (they supposed love had made Remus a little less of his usual sensible self) but on the other hand, a real engagement out of love perhaps was just what they needed. And it wasn't like they had much time. As soon as James had proposed they would leave within a day or two and sail back to Gryffindor to prepare for the wedding and the war.

Suddenly Sirius began to laugh.

They all looked at him in confusion but he soon calmed down.  
"Who would have believed?" He explained his outburst. "Sensible, advisable Sir Remus Lupin will get married first of us all. Or… second." He added after a quick thought, quietly and carefully so he wouldn't destroy the mood. If they were going to have a long engagement then James would marry first since he and the princess would marry as quickly as possible. "Remus 'who-would-I-marry-I-who-am-neither-noble-nor-commoner' Lupin. Congratulations, Moony! And congratulations, little cousin!"

After a moment James and Peter began to laugh too. It felt like a great relief to finally laugh this hard again. Remus had been like that for a year now. Who would he marry? Commoners were uncomfortable around him and he couldn't marry a noble, he wasn't one himself. It had been ridiculous, because which woman wouldn't want to marry Moony? But Remus had refused to listen to reason for once. But apparently love did strange things to you and now he had proposed to a noblewoman and been accepted as fiancé by her father.  
Remus looked slightly annoyed even if nothing could burst the happiness bubble around him, and when Dora stared at him before beginning to laugh too he couldn't help but join in. He was going to get married to the woman of his dreams in a few months. Dame Dora Lupin – that sounded wonderful. Truly marvellous.

* * *

"Rise, my prince."  
James was once more standing on one knee and head bowed in front of the thrones in the back of the throne room. He did as asked. He knew his friends were standing in the crowd behind him and he appreciated the support he got, by them simply being there, but that wasn't the important thing right now. His future was going to be decided in this moment. Freedom or marriage.

"Speak, your highness." The queen's voice came once again, kind and inviting but telling him not to draw out on it. "Why have you asked for an audience?"  
James swallowed quietly and bowed his head.  
"The time has come to announce my reason to encroach on your hospitality, your majesty." The queen nodded to him to continue. "I have come to strengthen the alliance between our kingdoms and to form an unbreakable bond between our families. I wish to ask for her highness', Princess Isolde's, hand in the holy uniting of marriage."

James forced himself to breathe slowly and calmly, like he had everything under control and this was exactly what he wanted.  
"I accept." Queen Tanwen's words, even thought they were expected, came as a blow in his stomach. But he ignored it and forced a smile. "The wedding and the uniting of the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff dynasty will stand as soon as possible."

James bowed and waited for her nod, and then he walked up on the pedestal where the royals of Hufflepuff were seated. He took out a ring from his pocket – it was in gold with a ruby and a topaz on it and fell to one knee in front of the princess. He held out his hand and waited for her to place her own – her left – in it, before he carefully put it on her ring finger. From this day and until the day of their wedding, he was engaged with Princess Isolde of Hufflepuff. No way back out now. He was going to get more duties. He was going to get married. And he wasn't going to get Lily.

"I am honoured, your highness." Princess Isolde said, smiling. James forced himself to smile back, and he knew he looked sincere. He and Sirius were both amazing actors, after all.  
"It is I who am honoured, your highness."

* * *

They made their departure the next day.  
The servants had had a busy time getting everything packed, even with the help of the Hufflepuffs, but none of the Marauders cared much. It was their job, after all, and James' situation was much more important. Even Remus didn't even give the servants hurrying around a single thought. James simply wanted to get away, get home, and enjoy his freedom as long as it lasted. He did not want to be in Hufflepuff longer than he had to after this. The country he usually liked had become a symbol of his imprisonment, or what he saw as such.

Remus spent his time carefully divided between his friends and Dora until James and Sirius practically yelled at him that they would spend the entire journey together and most time at home too, go say goodbye to your fiancée.

So the morning was spent giving goodbyes to everyone, mostly the royal family, and having the ship packed. And by after dinner everything was ready for departure. Again they were dressed in travelling clothes instead of the royal uniforms and as soon as he got in them, James felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. Now he didn't have to be Prince James anymore; Captain Potter or James was enough. His crew didn't care if he ate with the right fork or if he could lead armies, they cared if he could get them out of a storm or a pirate attack. They cared if he was kind to them, or if he was cruel. At ocean they were like horses – they wanted him to be kind and to be able to get them out of dangerous situations and to give them food on the table, nothing else. When they came ashore he was sure they cared if he was a good prince and future king, but at the ocean that didn't matter. At the ocean he could be exactly what and who he would've been if he had gotten the choice.

He grinned as he rode up the gangway and the crew saluted him and his friends as their captain, first- and second-mate and navigator.  
They jumped of the horses and James smiled as Lily and two other crew members came to take the horses.  
"Alright, men – and woman!" He added with a glance at the red head "We have got a long voyage in front of us as we're going to visit Twyla for a day before going home to Gryffindale! So cast off, and hoist the main sail! I bid you all a good journey."  
"Aye, Captain!" Came from the crew before all of them rushed off to their respective duties.

* * *

Soon they were out in the free again and left Diagon behind. Within a few hours the only thing you saw of the city was the towers of the castle, looking miniscule in the horizon.  
The four Marauders were all sitting on the mast, looking out over the ocean and smiling brightly.

For a while they just sat there in silence before Remus smirked and looked over at James.  
"Okay, spill the beans, Prongs." He said. "What is going on with you and Lily? You haven't even exchanged hostile gazes today. Actually, you smiled toward each other."  
"Wait…" Sirius said disbelieving, his eyes wide but his mouth looking like it would begin to grin anytime. "Are you… blushing? The great James, blushing?"  
James took a deep breath, trying to hide whatever red that tainted his cheeks, before smiling. It wasn't as happy as it could've been, not really, but friends were good. Truly. It was enough. It had to be.  
"I suppose Lily and I are friends now. You know how I disappeared during the ball?" They nodded. "Well, I went to the stables, obviously, and she found me there. We talked and… well, some things happened, but we are good. We – she does not dislike me anymore."  
Remus looked sceptic.  
"I hope you did not say anything secret. Not that I do not trust Lily, but simply because you cannot go and do that, because I know you trust people a little too easily."  
"Chill, Moons." Sirius grinned. "I am sure Prongsie knows what he is doing. Stop being a worrywart. Enjoy the sea instead, and being free from duties and social bans."  
Remus shrugged.  
"I guess you are right, Paddy. And after all, I am one hundred percent sure Lily is trustworthy, so it does not really matter."  
"Not one hundred and ten?" Peter asked, smiling too. Remus glared slightly, but couldn't help but smile back.  
"Not logically possible, Wormtail."

* * *

Another hour later they had completely left Diagon behind, not even the towers were visible anymore. James had actually completely forgotten all about his engagement as soon as he didn't have them as reminders and just enjoyed being at the sea. He was standing in the prow of the ship, feeling the wind whip his face.

He knew this ship as his own pocket, _the Marauder_ was like his fourth best friend. He knew every creaking plank, every nook and every corner, and where the best places were. He loved her. She was something that was his, and only his – and his best friends', but really, he shared everything with them, they didn't count. Aboard he could be anyone he wanted and she was something that actually belonged to him, to _James_ , not to the crown prince. Not some heirloom or something that belonged to him because he was the heir of Gryffindor. He had the contract, and while his parents bought the ship it was signed with his name – James of the House of Gryffindor – and his alias James Potter. It wasn't given to Prince James, it was given to James – a son, a friend, someone who loved the ocean.

James knew he complained about this a _lot_. In his mind and to his friends too. He knew he shouldn't, he loved being himself and he was grateful for all he had and didn't actually want to be someone else even if it had been great to have a choice and being king perhaps wasn't what he would've chosen if he had been able to, and most of these thoughts probably simply was fear of messing up when he became Gryffindor's monarch and unhappiness over being forced to marry. He had been educated since he was four years old, he had been told all the tricks, he was more suited for this destiny that anyone else in the kingdom, or his family. And being king, while it seemed scary and was a lot of hard work, would probably have its perks too. It wasn't all that. It was simply that this marriage-affair had made him think of everything that could go wrong and everything that could be horrible. It hadn't made him think of everything that could go right.

"What are you thinking of?"  
James jumped at the unexpected sound of a voice from behind. When he turned around he saw Lily Evans walking toward him. She was smiling and the sun had made her skin flush a healthy red. For once her hair wasn't braided but flied loose. Why did he think of these things? It had to stop, it wasn't important! Or for him it was, but it could never happen. He was getting married, for Merlin's sake! But he didn't tell her any of these thoughts, instead he simply smiled and made place for her beside him.

"Nothing special. Just enjoying being out at open waters again."  
"You really love the ocean, don't you?" She asked, looking genuinely interested. It was really nice to have someone but his friends and parents (and Mr and Mrs Lupin, but to be honest he didn't talk to them that much) that was actually interested in what he had to say, not just trying to keep on his good side. He nodded and laughed.

"Yes. How could I not? The ocean… she is unpredictable, she is beautiful, she is wild and she does not care in the slightest about my princely title. She treats royal, merchant, fisher or beggar just the same. The only thing Thalassa cares about is the respect you show her, and if she is feeling nice she will show you respect in return. She does not show mercy because you are rich, or because you are poor. She is fair, even if we humans might think of her as cruel at times. But after all, what is a short human life to something as eternal as the ocean? It will still be here when we, our children and our great grandchildren are gone. She will still be here when war rages and in times of peace. She will still be here when the time comes for our countries to fall and be forgotten – even if I hope it will take a long time until that time comes. And she is freedom. Out here, anything is possible. You can go wherever you want, do whatever you want. There are no expectations, no restrictions. I would think that is why Sirius loves to be here. Freedom is everything he has ever wanted. If it were not for us Marauders and because he loves my parents, I would say that he would have run away and become a pirate or something years ago."

Lily looked slightly taken back, and amazed. She was still smiling and had gotten something dreamy in her green eyes.  
"I've never thought of it that way. But you're right. And I think that is a reason why I love horses so much. They're freedom too, you know. When you've got a good horse, you can go everywhere. And if the horse and you are skilled enough, no one will be able to stop you because you'll be gone before they've understood something is happening."  
James nodded. He knew exactly what she meant. After all, together with sailing, horses were his greatest passion. He wasn't entirely sure about whether he would prefer riding or sailing as a way of travelling, but while he loved the Marauder he had to admit that a horse was a better friend than a ship.

They stood there in silence for a minute or two, just watching the ship breaking through the waves before he looked up again, and absentmindedly, without really realizing he was doing it, beginning to twirl one of her hair locks around his finger. Lily looked at him a little strangely but seemed to decide to let it go. Someone with hair like hers must have many who want to look at it, red hair was really unusual and her sunset colour even more. The only people James knew with red hair except her were the Prewetts and the Weasleys, two of the lesser noble families, but their colour was completely different.

"You said you have got a sister?" He asked, sounding curious. "I understood that your relationship is not very good, but when you were younger, were you friends? I have always wanted a sibling. Sirius and Peter both have ones, but the Black brothers stopped speaking to each other many years ago. I suppose Regulus is the heir of Grimmauld now." He added, thoughtfully. "After Sirius ran away and moved in with me, he is hardly still on their family tree. And Peter's are… well, they are well-meaning but pretty boring. No sibling drama there."

For a short moment Lily looked a bit hesitant before beginning to talk. Her voice was sad and happy at the same time as she told him about her childhood; how her parents had been some of the best horse trainers in Surrey – even if only her father was recognized as Surrey's women were mostly ignored – and how she and her sister Petunia had grown up on a great farm. Petunia had never really liked the horses, but they had been friends. Played together, taken rides together when Lily got Petunia to get near the horses, had picnics, did everything together. How Petunia had protected her as she was the younger sister.

"But then Petunia was thrown off a horse – my horse – when I was ten, because I had forced her to ride him. She wasn't injured even if she was in pain. I tried to get her onto the horse again, and again, but she refused and became angry with her. But I loved horses and I had gotten injured many times, broken legs and arms, and couldn't understand why she wouldn't sit up again. After that we began to grow apart. And then she met Vernon." She said his name with deepest disgust. "And he too hated whatever animals were called. Except his sister's horrible bulldogs. He had horses – he's a merchant so he needs them for work – but he never got close to them when it could be avoided. After that Petunia was lost. She hates me."

A tear slipped down her cheek and she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. James bit his lip and dragged his fingers through his hair. Somehow his hair never got so tangled that his fingers got stuck in it. It was always messy, but not even after being on the ocean, did it get tangled. It was like magic – like he had a kind fairy hairmother.  
He didn't really know what to say – Sirius never wanted to talk about Regulus, not even with him, so he had no experience with bad sibling relations. So he simply placed an arm over her shoulder.

* * *

It was the middle of the night when James was awoken by yelling. He was sleeping in the Captain's Cabin, obviously, which was placed next to the main deck, so he was able to hear whenever things got too loud out there. His first thought was that someone had gotten too drunk but then he heard how afraid the voices out there sounded and knew it wasn't it. He quickly rose from his bed and had just dragged on his trousers over his nightshirt when one of the men ran in.  
"What is going on?" James asked sharply while studying the man's scared face. It took a lot to scare these men, seeing how they had fought in the storm on the way there without doubting.  
"Pirates, Capt'n." The man, Tobias, gasped. "Probably caperers."

That made James bolt. During all the time he had spent on sea he had never met pirates before. Most of them weren't dumb enough to attack a ship with his private emblem on the flag, and even less the royal family's. But these apparently were. Either that, or they were really sure they could win.  
"Go wake the others." He ordered. "Now."

Tobias saluted before hurrying out of the cabin. James quickly dragged his boots on and strapped his weapons to his side. He always wore knives in hidden sheathes when he wasn't in the royal family's private part of the castle, but except them he also took his sword – the Sword of Gryffindor, a dagger, some throwing knives and another normal knife. Normally he would never wear this many weapons at the same time, but meeting a new opponent was always risky and you better not take unnecessary chances.  
Then he hurried out on deck, where there was frenzy reigning.  
"Get your weapons!" He ordered. "We will try to outrun them, but in worst scenario be ready to fight! For Gryffindor, and for our lives!"  
He knew perfectly well that in this case their lives were probably a much bigger motivator than their country, at least for most of them. Then there were of course those who'd rather fight for the kingdom than themselves, and they were admirable, but they weren't many. As he took the command people seemed to calm down now when they had a leader and people did as he told. Soon Sirius, Remus and Peter joined him where he stood outside the Captain's Cabin.

"Hoist all the sails! Throw out some dead weight! Turn her with the wind… now!" James shouted out orders, upon which Sirius and Remus ran around making sure they were followed. Peter didn't really have any function in these moments as he was the navigator, so he simply stood there, functioning as moral support for James in case he would need it.

"What is going on?" Lily suddenly turned up. She was, just like him, hastily dressed in trousers but instead of her nightgown she was actually wearing a real shirt, and her hair was quickly put into a simple bun.  
"Pirates." James replied grimly. He did not know whether they actually win since he had no idea if these pirates were any good. He didn't like not knowing, not when it came to these things. Lily's eyes grew wide but she didn't panic, thankfully, like most of the ladies at home would've done. Instead she looked just as grim as James.  
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked, but the captain shook his head.  
"You cannot fight, can you?"  
"I can fight. Just not with weapons."

James almost smiled. He liked that. It was a good answer. Obviously she hadn't gotten any weapon training as a commoner and a girl in Surrey, but there were many ways you could fight without iron in your side. But that wouldn't help now, not against pirates with swords and Luna knew that.  
"Then you will not be to help, as you cannot sail either. Please, go down and hide. I do not want to have to worry about you during this entire fight."  
"You needn't worry about me. I can take care of myself." She looked stubborn, and like he had wounded her pride. But this was not about pride. This was about living or not living.  
"Listen, Lily. I do not doubt you are a great fighter, but without weapons' experience you will not have a chance against these men on that ship. So please go under deck."  
She looked like she wanted to protest, but then thought better of it.  
"Okay. But only this time."  
Before he could say anything else she disappeared and James gave a breath of relief. At least she wouldn't be in the middle of the fire.

After about ten minutes of sailing it stood clear that they would not outsail the pirate ship. _The Marauder_ might be a ship designed for speed, but realistically James had to admit that there were ships that were faster than her, either he liked it or not, and the one hunting them seemed to be one of those. He ordered to lower the sails and stop. Better prepare to fight instead of trying something impossible. The pirates would reach them within half an hour. The wind was lying on at their way and the conditions were pretty perfect.  
"Man the guns!" He heard Remus shout out and saw the men run over deck to do as ordered. The canons were soon loaded and ready.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter gathered outside the Captain's Cabin. As always before a battle against an unknown opponent they were nervous, but in some way they felt excitement, also just like always.  
"What do you say, mates?" Sirius said, grinning slightly. "Shall we show the scoundrels what happens if you try to take on the Marauders?"  
He got similar smiles in return. Neither of them had ever lost an important fight before. Sure, some duels here and there, but nothing that really mattered. It was hard imagining losing against a few uneducated sea rapscallions. It was possible they would have to eat their words but so be it, then. They didn't earn anything for being frightened. James turned to the crew and repeated what Sirius had said, almost identically, to the crew.  
"What do you say, men?" He shouted out. "Shall we show the scoundrels what happens if you try to take on _the Marauder_?"  
The crew roared their agreement.

"Then be ready! To the guns! Aim!"  
"Fire!" James, Sirius and Remus cried out simultaneously and the canons gave away a loud _pang_ as the cannonballs flew away. Two hit the pirate ship, the rest only made it swing slightly. Nothing lethal, though. Another _pang_ was heard and the man behind the wheel – Cadan – turned the ship as quickly he could, just avoiding being hit by a ball from the returning fire.

Peter ran over there, taking the wheel instead. Steering was his ace.  
With Peter's help they succeeded to avoid all cannonballs but one, which only scratched the ship. Nothing that would make them sink.

When the enemy-ship came closer Remus shouted out, in shock and in anger:  
"Slytherin's flag! They are privateers!"  
His comment resulted in angry roaring from everyone aboard. So the pirates attacking them were paid by Slytherin to hijack ships. And seeing how they tried to come at them even though James' flag was very visible it could only be seen as a declaration of war. James frowned. For now no actual attacks had been made, and nothing more than subtle threats – except the men that tried to kill him on his fifteenth birthday, but Slytherin's government denied to have known anything about it. If they got unscathed from here Slytherin could either use this as their war declaration, or again deny everything. No one would believe them of course, but no one would want to risk their allies to think they started the war and leave the alliance. If they didn't get away from here alive, Slytherin would've gotten him and Sirius out of the way and no one would ever know. The privateers – whose ship's name was _The Sea Wolf_ (not very imaginative, in James' humble opinion) – had raised the Red flag. The flag that meant no survivors. They would kill everyone if they won, and probably sink the ship.

And then _the Wolf_ reached them and grappling hooks were thrown over to the Marauder.  
"Cut them off!" James ordered and the men immediately began to do so, resulting in a few of the privateers falling into the sea. He took a look at the men on the other ship. The man who had to be the captain was very hairy, all grey. He was dressed in what could've been handsome clothing, a blue overcoat, leather boots, a hat with a feather much like James' own, but weren't since they were thorn and filthy. The crew didn't look better. They were all filthy, in thorn clothes and they looked pretty starved, honestly.  
Remus seemed to freeze behind him. James looked over at his friend, who stared at the captain in complete shock.

"What is the matter?" He asked, but before Remus could answer the captain of the Wolf began to speak.  
"My name's Fenrir Greyback, and I am the captain of _The Sea Wolf_. Surrender now, and you'll get to die without too much pain. Fight, and you'll all die a very painful death."  
"He came to Peverell Island when I was almost five." Remus said, still looking shocked, even though anger was beginning to take over. "Luckily it was only a few days after your family had left, so there were still soldiers there that could hunt him down. But he came into our cottage and was going to take me with him when the soldiers came. I've still got a scar. If they had not come in time, I would have been a part of that crew. Mum told me that he kidnaps children to make them a part of the crew on _the Wolf_. Or worse." He didn't follow up, but James could guess what he meant. He turned to Greyback at the same time as he adjusted his hat so it sat right.  
"And I am James Potter, captain of _the Marauder_. I am also known as the crown prince of Gryffindor. Leave, and you will live. Attack us, and I will personally decollate you."

Upon that, Greyback broke out in horrible laughter. His crew quickly followed and began to laugh to. Then he shouted " _Attack_!" and more grappling hooks were thrown over to _the Marauder_.

Soon the deck was filled by chaos. James dragged the Sword of Gryffindor from its sheathe and had to immediately parry as a man whose only clothes were a threadbare pair of trousers and a headband attacked. This first wasn't hard to defeat. He lifted the Sword, parried his opponent's, and stepped aside. This resulted in his opponent stumbling whereupon James was free to stab the Sword into the man's chest. He didn't like killing men like this, but if he didn't his own men would die instead. So he did what he had to do.

He saw Remus behead another man a few feet away from him and how Sirius duelled two men at once, who both seemed more skilled than his opponent. Peter was lunging toward someone's stomach. But then time of thinking was over as another man, this one looking less frayed, stepped up to him. This time James took the initiative and swung the Sword toward the man's arm. The man easily parried, making James slip slightly with the Sword. A flash of nervousity came to him but he bit his lip and forced it away. Instead he took it slower this time and let his opponent attack first. Parrying he felt the man trying to force him down with brute force this time, pressing his sword toward James'.

He felt sweat break out, the man was strong, and coerced himself into taking a deep breath. He looked into the man's eyes, trying to predict what was going to happen. The man's eyes looked almost impassive, like he didn't really care what happened to him. But when Greyback's voice was heard in the background they flickered with fear. What had he done to his crew? The thought that Remus could've been one of them made James feel sick. And that thought distracted him for a single moment which gave the man his chance. He quickly stopped press and cut. James hissed in pain as he felt the sword cut through his arm. It was only shallow and nothing that would stop his movements, but the blood dropped and it hurt. It made him mad though. Quickly he stepped forward and began to attack with new energy. One, two three and the man was weaponless. Instead of killing him with the Sword James simply heaved him overboard and heard him fall into the water. The alarm of the battle became louder.

The squeak from the planks alerted James that someone was trying to sneak up at him from behind. He held his breath and waited for two seconds until he knew whoever-it-was was only a few feet behind him before he turned around, his sword at the ready. A glinting of a sword was the only warning he got before whoever-it-was charged. Stepping aside he avoided being cut in two. He glanced at the face and realized it was Greyback himself.

"Hello, _your highness_." The older captain said mockingly, a horrid grin on his face, before using his fist instead of sword. James was entirely unprepared and felt the fist collide with his face. The world became white for a second but then everything cleared again. His glasses had slipped but they were still there, luckily, or he would've been blind as a bat during the day. He quickly placed them properly before glaring at Greyback, feeling his hate for this man grow, and swallowed some blood in his mouth.

"That is _captain_ to you!" He shouted before charging, swinging the sword. The deck creaked as he forced the hairy man to back. He felt a satisfying feeling at this, especially when a slightly worried look showed up on the captain's face for a moment. James watched Greyback's hands and feet, guessing what moves he would do next. He slashed toward his head and Greyback parried. They ducked and dodged and charged, steel hitting steel and the occasional flesh.

They were now in the middle of the fight. Suddenly James felt how he lost foothold as he slipped on some blood on the deck and cried out as he fell backwards. Greyback grinned, looking bloodthirsty, as he towered up over James. For the first time during the battle, the fright turned into real fear. He was sitting on the deck and Greyback was standing.  
"Goodbye, _your highness_." Greyback lifted his sword and James did the same even though he didn't have much chance to dodge from this position. Then the privateer cried out in pain, dropping his sword and James saw how a knife had embedded itself in his arm. Behind him the captain saw how Remus was standing there, having thrown the knife.

"Looks like I am in your debt again!" He shouted to his friend as he stood up now when he got the chance.  
"Only doing my job!" Remus shouted back before fighting his way over deck, toward him. "This is what their majesties hired me for, after all."  
Greyback dragged another sword he had in his belt, not bothering with trying to find the old one. He growled ferociously, sounding strangely like an angry wolf, and would just go on James again when Remus stopped his sword.

"Not on my shift." He growled back. James absentmindedly noticed that Remus looked surprisingly rested, or perhaps it was just adrenaline, but he had more important things to focus on. "You will _not_ take anyone else I care about."  
Remus had a wild look James hadn't seen before, and his face was filled with pure hate.  
"You do not remember?" Remus spat as he parried and charged again. "I suppose you would not. What would an old man and an unborn baby mean to someone like you?"  
James had no idea what Remus was talking about, but was distracted as he was attacked again.

James had soon killed about ten men and was just about to decapitate his eleventh as a scream was heard. He immediately recognized it.  
"Lily!" He cried out, before thinking, and quickly sliced the man's head off before turning to the source of the noise. Outside the door that lead down under deck Lily was being held by a man that looked like he was an officer at the Wolf, with a sword under her neck. The man that held her grinned.

"I was surprised to find a _girl_ here." He said. "But it seems like she's a _friend_ of our dear prince. Surrender, and we might let her live. Only her, of course. If it's okay with you, captain?"  
Greyback was still fighting Remus, but he grunted his agreement.  
"I could always use a beautiful girl." He said before groaning in pain as Remus got in a blow on him.

Except the scream, which seemed to have come from them dragging her hair, Lily hadn't made a sound and she had kept a straight face. But at that comment she looked fearful.  
"I'd rather _die_!" She yelled, making the first mate press the blade of his sword toward her throat a little harder.  
"We can fix that." He growled loudly.  
Then everything happened very fast.

In one second Lily stood there, looking very afraid, in the next her face changed into contorted fury and she moved very quickly, somehow producing a knife and stabbing it right into the first mate's stomach, before he even could react. She cried out in pain as the sword blade pressed into her before it scrambled to the ground and the man fell to the deck, screaming in pain. She quickly took it up and cut right into his heart. The man died immediately.

James stared in shock, but felt a little tingle of proudness in him. And a lot of relief.  
"Get back under deck!" He shouted out and she nodded, looking horrified, and went in there again. He was grateful she obeyed, he had the feeling that she normally wouldn't do that. But seeing her horrified look, she probably just understood she had killed someone. He knew the feeling, he had felt the same the first time he took someone's life. It became easier, even though the pain over it probably never would go away completely.

Suddenly he heard a roar and saw that Sirius and Peter both had joined Remus in the battle against Greyback. The privateer looked furious, but he was easily defeated when it was three against one. James smirked as Greyback retreated back on his ship. As soon as the crew of the Wolf saw it they followed, and soon the deck was empty of enemies – alive enemies at least

James reached the door first and threw it open, only to stop dead as a blade was pointed toward his throat. In front of him Lily was standing, her red hair framing her head and her green eyes with a gaze of steel. She looked like some kind of warrior princess from those old poems Professor Minnie had forced them to read, that Peter had loved.  
"Lily…?" He asked carefully, not wanting to startle her since it could be lethal as she stared at him. Then she lowered the sword slowly before blinking twice. Tears began to run down her cheeks.

"James!" She cried out and threw away the sword. Remus had come up next to them now, watching cautiously. "Remus!" She added. She looked so lost, it hurt James' heart. Then suddenly she threw herself on them both, clinging on them like dear life hung on it. "I just killed someone. _Killed_. I'm a murderer!" She had begun to sob.

The two Marauders stared at each other, perplexed as neither had ever had someone crying like this before, before slowly raising their arms and putting them around her. James stroked her back, feeling slightly uncomfortable with being this close to a woman who wasn't family in front of the entire crew – everyone who looked at their direction would immediately see them, the door was pretty big – but wasn't able to let go of her when she was this distressed. Remus seemed to have similar thoughts.

They stood like that a little while before Remus carefully loosened her arms around him, so he was able to look her in the eyes.  
"You are _not_ a murderer, Lily. That man should have killed you if you had not done what you did."  
James nodded, but didn't let go of her. He could smell her hair. She smelled like horses, obviously, but also like cinnamon and strawberries in some strange way.  
"Moony is right. Listen, I – all of us – have killed. Only today I have killed a dozen men, at the very least. But if I had not done that, we would all have died. They had the Red flag raised. Do you know what that flag means? It means 'show no mercy. Kill everyone. No hostage'. If we had not killed, then we would have been dead by now. And you would too, or something worse. A murderer is someone who kill even though they do not have to. You are a survivor. A _fighter_." Lily looked up at him, still crying but her eyes looked a little less desperate, like she wanted to believe him. Something hit him. "And you know what? Seeing that this is the second time I know about where you have been in a life threatening situation, I would feel much better if you knew how to handle yourself for real, even if you did well today. I am going to make sure you learn how to. Moony, do you think we could teach her how to fight?"

Remus snorted.  
"If there is anyone I think could learn, it is Lily. Hufflepuff taught me that being a woman means _nothing_ when it comes to that. Dora is a formidable warrior, and so could Lily be, I am sure."  
"Then it is decided. Lily, tomorrow we are going to teach you how to use a sword."  
The red head looked disbelieving, staring up at him with wide eyes. He supposed he couldn't blame her, seeing how he had talked about women before. Well, you learnt something new every day, he supposed.  
"Really?" She asked. At least she seemed distracted from her guilt.  
"Of course."

Suddenly a great smile lightened up her face and she released him from her grip onto him. He felt a little disappointed but brushed it off.

"Wonderful!" She happily cried out. "I've always wanted to learn, but have always been told it wasn't fitting for a girl to know. Apparently I was already pushing the limit by working with horses."  
"Then we will start tomorrow." James grinned, glad she was happy again. Remus looked amused but didn't give a comment, so he ignored him. "Remus, go and get Lily something to eat, please. She could need it after today. I will go and see if Sirius and Peter have looked at the causalities."

" _Aye, aye_ , captain." Remus did a joking salute before offering his arm to Lily, who after a second or two took it. James smiled when he watched them joke and chat with each other and went out on the bloodstained deck of _the Marauder_ again, to count the dead and gather the crew to give them a proper sea funeral.

* * *

 **Sorry, sorry, sorry it took such a long time. This just didn't want to be written. I hope I haven't lost the one who seems to be my only reader on this story.  
** **This is, just like the chapter title tells, only half of this chapter. It became so long, twelve pages in a word document, and I've only written about half of it or less, so I decided to post it in two parts so it wouldn't be so much. This way you'll get at least this quicker too.**

 **I hope the fighting scene wasn't too boring. I have never written one before. This story really lets me write new things, so that's good I suppose. Practice makes perfect. So feel free to tell me what I can do better.**

 **Well, I hope you enjoyed and don't forget to review, since it is the reviews that makes me want to continue this story. Sure, it _is_ pretty fun to write, but ask any writer/author out there, without reviews/comments you really wonder whether you're a bad writer or not. A favourite/follow is nice, but a review is what makes us want to continue writing. Sorry for the long note, and for this rambling about reviews/comments, but I had to say it, so...**

 **I hope you had a good midsummer if you celebrate it, mine was great, and if you don't I hope you had a good time the past two days either way.  
Bye!**


	11. Chapter VIII: Alliance part III (part 2)

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

The next day the first thing James did was sending one of his men with a message to Lily to join him and his friends for breakfast. Perhaps not proper – definitely not proper – but teaching her to fight with sword wasn't proper either, so what did it matter? The crew wouldn't tattletale what happened on the ship, or they would get sacked. Except that, he trusted his men. He didn't think they would give away any secrets even if they hadn't risked their jobs by doing so.

Walking into the dining room which was meant for the captain and his officers, he saw that his friends were there already. Except them there was also the cabin boys who acted servants during the journeys since none of them wanted the gossiping castle servants on their sanctuary. All of them wore the same clothes as usual and looked alert. Sometimes it could be really hard to get Remus and Peter up from bed, but somehow they never had that problem when sailing. Perhaps it was the rocking from the waves that made them sleep better.

Neither of them sat on the short end of the table, as that was the seat for the most important and powerful person, and while James both were captain and prince the Marauders thought of themselves as equal. They knew everything about each other and accepted James as the leader of the crew and the kingdom, but James and Sirius both ruled their group together as equals, but Remus and Peter didn't really mind, they knew that none of their friends thought of them as lesser. A group simply needed a leader (or leaders, in their case), that didn't mean anything when it came to their worth as members of the Marauders. So James sat down next to Sirius and on the opposite side of Peter, and joined into the conversation.

After about ten minutes it knocked on the door. Caspar went to open the door when Peter had nodded for him to do so and Lily stepped in. James smiled broadly as the sight. She looked slightly unsure, but was as beautiful as usual. Her red hair wasn't braided, it was put in a bun, but with that exception she looked as usual. Lovely as usual. _No! Bad James_. The captain mentally kicked himself. _Lily's looks doesn't matter, you're friends, and nothing but friends. You don't care remotely about Sirius', Remus' or Peter's looks, so you won't care about Lily's either._ Ignoring himself he and his friends rose as it was a lady in the room. A gentleman didn't sit while a lady was standing. She raised an eyebrow at it but seemed to decide not to mention it. Instead she simply stood there in the opening until Remus told her to come in.

"Good morning, Lils." He smiled and gestured toward a chair next to Sirius. "Come in and sit down, breakfast is just getting served."  
As she sat down and smiled politely toward them all James waved toward one of the boys, who hurried away to get the breakfast.  
"Did you enjoy Hufflepuff, Miss Evans?" Peter asked, sounding slightly unsure exactly how he would address her. James didn't blame him. She was a woman, commoner, servant and James and Remus' friend. And while Remus too had been most of those things until a few years ago, they had been childhood friends, so with him nothing had been odd since the very first day they met him.  
"Oh, yes, milord." Lily looked almost as confused. James and Remus both grinned toward her, urging her to continue. "Diagon is a very beautiful city, and everyone's very nice. It was great to be on a place where no one thought it was strange with a female horse keeper. Though the stables and horse keeping is better in Gryffindor… But the royal stables had some really beautiful Horizons-horses. I've never seen one of those for real before, but dad always said that they were some of the best horses there is."

"Geez," Sirius muttered, though he was smirking. "She is as bad as you are, Prongsie." James looked sheepish, he knew that his friends often found him annoying with his talk about horses. Sirius turned to Lily. "Have you ever played horse polo, Miss?" He asked, sounding curious. Horse polo was the favourite sport of both James and Sirius, and they excelled at it. Even more since they got their Phoenix horses, but a good horse could only take you that long.  
Much to the disappointment of the two brothers-in-arms the horse keeper shook her head.  
"No, never. Firstly, there wasn't anyone who would've taught a girl in Surrey, secondly that's not a sport commoners usually play, and thirdly, I've never really seen the point of it."

James and Sirius gasped, and Remus and Peter stared at each other in horror. Now she had done it. They sighed as their friends threw themselves into an explanation of why it was the best sport ever and cast Lily a pitiful look. She would have to listen on it all, or else they would begin from the start again. The two of them had luckily enough interest in horse polo not to have to listen to this speech, but they had still heard it many times when people at the court, and in villages they had visited incognito, had said the exact same thing as the commoner.

Luckily the boy came back with the food soon and the black haired men got distracted from their rant. The breakfast was simple but tasty. Lily looked slightly shocked when she realized she wasn't supposed to serve herself but let the boys do it but except that everything went smoothly, and at the end of the meal James could tell that both Sirius and Peter had taken liking to her and she to them. In the middle of the meal Sirius seemed to get tired of the formality and practically ordered her to call him and Peter by their names, it's not like it mattered, no one's going to hear, and she smiled and told them to call her by her name in that case.

"Meet us at the main deck in two hours." Remus said just before they left the dining room. "Dress comfortably."  
Lily smiled, excited when she understood what would come, and promised before leaving to look after the horses.

"You sure about this, Prongs?" Sirius put his hand on his shoulder. He was slightly sceptical about the whole thing and had been ever since he told them about his plan. It wasn't surprising, James and Remus had both had a hard time coming to the realization that being a woman didn't matter much, and both Peter and Sirius had grown up in much more strictly traditional homes than James and Remus. While the royals held on traditions they didn't mind changes when it meant something would become better. The count and countess of Aleria was very much for the old, though, and the duke and duchess of Grimmauld a lot more so. The prince nodded.  
"Completely."

Two hours later every single member of the crew that wasn't on duty for the moment had gathered on the deck when the captain and his mates showed up. Apparently word had gone round already. Lily was already there, looking both excited and nervous, just as she should. This wasn't going to be a dance on roses, after all.  
When James walked out on deck he was dressed in comfortable and stretchy brown trousers, comfortable leather boots, and a loose but tight white shirt, and of course a scabbard in which he had one of his less sharp blades. Lily was similarly dressed after consulting with Remus, minus the scabbard and sword, of course.

She smiled, and he smiled back. Which seemed to make her slightly nervous, because it wasn't his usual mirthful smile. Fighting was something he took very seriously, and in the same moment as he appeared on the deck he was no longer her friend. He was her teacher and she was his student, and that was how he was going to act. Which was visible on his smile.

"Okay, Lily." The captain said, waving Peter to them. In his arms, Peter had a piece of cloth that seemed quite heavy. "First things first. We are going to decide which sword you are going to use. Wormtail." He added, upon which the navigator put down the cloth and rolled it up, revealing about ten swords. He placed them wearily on the white cloth, so each and every one was visible.

"Personally I am using a long sword, as the Sword of Gryffindor is one and I have been trained since childhood to use it, even though I am able to use most swords. Moony and Padfoot prefer basket rapiers and Wormtail normally fights with a cavalry officer rapier."

"Except those," he pointed at three different swords, "We have also got a Långström-rapier, Infantry officer rapier, a Pallasch – though those are mostly used by the heavy cavalry, I am not sure why we had one on the ship – a M1685 Carolinian and an Artillery N.C.O sabre." He counted up a few more swords. "If none of them would fit you, then you will have to use one until we get to land and can find one who does. And either way, we are going to find you a sword of your own when we reaches Gryffindale. We are lucky, because the Ravenclawian weapon smith Garrick Ollivander is in the city for a few weeks, to find some material only we have got. He is the best there is. The Ollivanders have made weapons for centuries."  
Lily raised an eyebrow.  
"There's no way I'd be able to pay for something like that. A horse keeper's salary isn't bad, but it's certainly not good enough for something like that."  
"I will not let you fight with a mediocre sword. I will pay, just like I paid for Remus' education before he got knighted. That is things you do for you friends – and students, in your case."

Lily began protesting, but James interrupted and told her to try out the swords. She shrugged, seemed to decide she could argue later, and bowed down to try the swords. She tried multiple swords, but the three knights surrounded her and came with negative commentary that made her choose another one.  
"Too long." "To heavy." "Too unbalanced" were some of the favourite comments.  
Lily seemed to begin to get tired in her arms from lifting and swinging the swords around like Remus showed her, James noted. He knew they were being critical, but she had to have a weapon that fit her or there would be no reason to have one at all, in his opinion.

"Stop." Remus suddenly said, as she picked up the M1685 Carolinian sword. The brunette stepped forward and began to walk around Lily. "Swing it." He ordered, and she did as she was told. "That one is good. It is slightly too long, and could use better balance, but that can be fixed when we meet Mr Ollivander. We will simply buy her a better sword, but I think this is the best we have got for her."

James and the other two Marauders nodded. After instructing their student – and probably first female sword fighter in the entirety of Gryffindor – on how to hold the sword they began.  
"Now, Lily, we are going to teach you to fight like a pirate, not a knight." The prince said, holding up a hand to silence her when she opened her mouth. "You are completely inferior most of the men you are going to meet in battle, if it comes to that point, as they will probably have years of training, length, strength and weight on you. Therefore you will have no chance if you fight by the rules, in the way a royal soldier or knight do. You are going to have to do feints, take all cheap chances and do all the dirtiest tricks you can manage. The four of us learnt to fight like knights and soldiers for years before we hired someone to teach us how to fight dirty, but we do not have that time with you. You are not going to participate in any fancy tournaments, either way, you are going to fight to survive, and your best chance is to fight dirty. Do you understand?"

The redhead nodded and the lesson began. In the beginning she was a bit unsure, but she was a stubborn and pretty talented students, and took it very serious. To be honest, she probably took it more serious, and worked harder, than many of the nobles back in the castle.  
Admittedly the four of them were quite the critics when it came to these kind of things, and as especially James had a lot of experience of training people since he was Head of the Royal Guard, and Supreme Commander over the Gryffindorian Forces, (though not in training beginners) he noticed every miss Lily did, and wasn't late to point it out. To her credit, she didn't complain she was tired even once, even when she was completely soaked with sweat, and neither did she complain over the fact that they were scarce with praise and generous with giving her credit.

After about three hours she had learnt the absolute basics good enough to at least be able to hold herself for a minute or two unless the opponent was good – which meant she didn't have a chance against any of the Marauders, but she could manage to hold off some of the newer recruits to the crew, who only had been training fencing for a few months.  
She was gasping for breath and looked like she was going to pass out from exhaustion anytime. James caught himself wishing some of his recruits at home – not the knights, of course, but some of the lower members of the Guard – was more like her. She was talented, there was no talk about it, and most important of all: she was ready to give everything she had without hesitating. Just like him and his friends and knights. If she had been a male Gryffindorian noble she would've been a formidable knight, that was for sure.

He looked at Remus, who except him had the main responsibility for Lily's training, both because he didn't have any noble responsibility and – mostly – because he was the best warrior of them. And the best teacher. When James got his sons and heirs, they would definitely get Remus as their tutor – in both the art of war and in many of the more peaceful subjects, such as history, diplomacy and language. And music, of course, as he was extremely talented in it.

Remus caught his gaze and nodded once, upon which the captain turned to his other friends who too nodded.  
"Okay, Lily, you can stop now." He said, upon which Lily's sword arm fell immediately, hanging limp. She didn't let go off the sword, though, which was good. Many would've just let it go. "Go get something to eat. You have trained enough for today. You are welcome to join us to supper later, if you wish to."  
She nodded once before leaving to her cabin, probably to change clothes.

* * *

The following days of the journey to Twyla went in the same fashion. On the morning, Lily joined them for breakfast. Then two hours before dinner, they trained her. Sometimes they were all there, sometimes only one or two were, while the others performed their duties aboard the ship. Then dinner, which Lily ate either alone or together with the crew, which she seemed to have taken liking to. Two hours after dinner they trained her again. It varied between three to four hours. Then they all went back to their duties and then the redhead joined them for supper about half the time. Sometimes, when she had time, the Marauders caught Lily training extra with the crewmen, to their amazement. Seeing how she trained and worked almost all the hours of the day, extra training was more ambitious than they expected from anyone.

Also, she grew closer and closer to the four of them every day, every workout, every meal they ate together. James wasn't sure whether to be happy over this – because he really liked her company, she was nice and funny and charming, and he was really glad his friends liked her too – or being exasperated over it – because it only made it harder to keep a friendly distance to her. But it didn't do to overthink the matter, as he hardly could've forced himself into not letting her into. To their surprise, she fit _perfectly_ into their group. She wouldn't become a Marauder, because no one but them could be, but they all adored her.

When they reached Twyla, the port town they would visit before going home to Gryffindale, she was good enough to hold her own against Peter for a little while. Peter was the one of them that was the least adept with the sword – not to say he was, because he still was a great fighter. With some more training she would become really good. She would most likely never reach the level of the knights, but she could probably be good enough to master some of the minor sword-wielding soldiers (the soldiers who used sword was few, as most of the commoners in the army used spears and similar weapons) and even some of the nobles.

Before going into the city – one of the smaller port towns but still big as all Gryffindor's port towns were important – Remus created a schedule for guard-duty, as _the Marauder_ never would be left empty – and James told the crew that they could do whatever they wanted for the evening, but they should be on the ship at dawn the next day – sober – and that they were completely forbidden to be drunk when on guard duty, a usual. He turned to Lily.  
"We are going to meet some friends. I think you should like them. But would you prefer to stay on the ship, go with the men or go with us? Or alone, I suppose, but I would not recommend you to."  
Lily elected to go with them.

Grinning toward James, he bowed in front of Lily and offered her his arm.  
"Do I get the honour, milady?" He asked cheerfully, a hint of teasing in his voice. Lily raised an eyebrow but grinned back.  
"Certainly, milord." She said evenly, holding back a laugh. James felt a twinge of jealously when he saw Lily at Sirius' arm, which was completely ridiculous. Because he had no right to be jealous for anything Lily did. And why would he ever be jealous against Padfoot? Sirius had zero interest in romance and he would never ever betray his friends by doing anything – romantically or sexually – with anyone they were interested in, could they get the woman or not. He was the most loyal person who existed, and for doubting that even for a part of a second felt like a horrible betrayal against the future duke.

Lily looked around, both in amazement and slight suspicion, when they led her toward the shabbier parts of the port. Probably wondering who they would know in these parts of the city. And why they would go to a place like this. She should only know how often they visited worse places.

They reached a pub called _the Ashwinder's Pub and Inn_. It was named after one of the mythical creatures that was said to roam the entirety of the Known World, perhaps the world.  
Opening the door, Peter waved them all in. They were easily the best dressed customers in the entire room, and therefore woke some attention, but soon everyone turned back to their drinks when they scowled at them. Lily especially seemed to be in focus of attention. James cursed himself for not telling her to put a skirt on. He had gotten so used to seeing her in trousers he hadn't thought about that others would react.

He shrugged and walked up to the desk, where the barmaid stood. It was a blonde girl in their age, who was wearing a brown dress and a welcoming smile.  
"Dorcas!" Remus grinned as they sat down. "Wonderful to see you again. Something new?"  
"Remus! Peter, Sirius, James!" Dorcas replied and James smiled in return. They hadn't seen her for over a year. "Nothing much with me. And you? What is it I hear about marriage, Jamie?"  
James frowned, but didn't comment. Only his mother and Sirius was allowed to call him Jamie, but Dorcas never listened. They had told her, ordered her even, more than a hundred times, and yet she hadn't stopped. He had been forced to give up a losing battle.  
"I promise to tell you later. Are the others here?"  
"No, but they should be anytime."

Lily cleared her throat, and it seemed like the blonde noticed her for the first time.  
"Oh!" She exclaimed. "And who're you?"  
The prince looked slightly ashamed.  
"I'm so sorry. Dorcas, this is Lily. She is our horse keeper on this journey." The barmaid raised an eyebrow. "And Lily, this is Dorcas Meadowes. She worked in the castle as my mother's maid before she ran away from home and bought this pub."  
"Horrible husband." She answered Lily's unvoiced question. James remembered that story way too well. Dorcas had been a friend of them after she befriended Remus when they were eleven. Dorcas was one year older than them, and had been married off already at sixteen as her family had needed more money when the father got fatally sick. The husband had turned out to be abusive, though, and for three weeks Dorcas had come to work, beaten up and quiet, so unlike her normal cheerful self.

Then the queen had had enough and hinted that she wanted them to help her escape. It wasn't against the law for a husband to 'discipline' his wife, so the queen hadn't been able to stop it. Abuse was against the law, but there was no clear line where the line between discipline and abuse went. Half a year after Dorcas' escape a new law against disciplining spouses had been passed, but Dorcas hadn't wanted to come back. She liked her new life.

The door opened again and the six of them turned to look who had come in. It was a couple – a man and a woman, they too in nicer clothes than most. They waved as they saw the group in front of the desk. The Marauders grinned when they reached the bar.  
"Frank! Alice!" Sirius greeted. "This is Lily – our horse keeper." He introduced the redhead. "And Lily, so we do not make the same mistake twice, this is Frank and Alice Longbottom, the duke and duchess of Anneau since three months. Friends of ours, even though we do not see them often."  
"A pleasure to meet you." Alice said, and holding her hand out to shake Lily's. Not normally what ladies did, but Alice had never been the normal society lady, and Lily was a servant, so… Lily shook it, smiling.  
"The same, milady."  
"Oh, nothing of that." The lord of Anneau interrupted. "If you are a friend of them, you are a friend of us. And you must be a friend, or you would not be here. Call us Frank and Alice."  
"Sure… Frank."

"Dorcas, is there somewhere we can talk?" Peter turned to her and asked. She nodded and waved a maid over.  
"Kate, take over the bar. I'm going behind to talk."  
"Yes, ma'am." The girl – Kate – nodded and curtseyed quickly.

The barmaid waved them with them and they went through a door with a STOP-sign on. Soon they were all sitting in a cosy room. It had couches and flowers and was really different to the pub outside of it. Dorcas served them a glass of rum each before asking what was happening.  
"Careful with that if you haven't tried it before, dear." She added, looking at Lily who was choking on the rum, much to the amusement of James and Sirius.  
"Yeah… thanks for the advice." Lily managed to say as soon as she had stopped choking.  
The barmaid chuckled and turned back to the Marauders to let them speak.

James began to explain all about the threatening war: Frank and Alice knew, of course, as they ruled the kingdom's third biggest city, after Gryffindale and Grimmauld, and therefore was important politicians – Alice too, as she refused to let the men do everything, ever since she became the duchess when Frank's father died – but Dorcas hadn't heard the news. She was one of the Crown's best spies, other than barmaid, too, so she needed the information. Her pub was one of the most popular ones so she got to hear a lot, and sometimes she travelled to get to know more. She had begun as a spy only a few months ago, but was already invaluable for the royals ever since she found out about a rebellion led by the lord of Gemri, who wanted to become king. Thanks to her the rebellion could be stopped before it grew big and the lord and his men got a trial before he and his closest officers were executed. The other members got sent to prison.

When James reached the part about a marriage alliance everyone gasped, and they gave him their compassion when they got to know that the wedding was to be held within months. Frank and Alice had married out of love, so they couldn't imagine what it felt like to be forced into a relationship, but Dorcas was a little less compassionate than she could've been. It was understandable, though, as he hardly was going to get abused like she had been when forced into marriage.

"So what now?" Alice asked when James finished telling. "What is going to happen now?"  
"It depends." Peter said thoughtfully. "As we are going to get an unbreakable alliance with Hufflepuff, we are going to be stronger we have been ever since Godric's time. But Slytherin will hardly let that stop them."  
Sirius nodded, agreeing.  
"True. Emperor Voldemort is a maniac. But he is also extremely intelligent, so he will not do anything if he is not sure of victory, but he will make sure he can win."  
"So the only thing we can do…" Remus added.  
"… Is to prepare for war." James finished, sighing. "As soon as we get home I will mobilize the Forces and make sure everyone trains harder than ever. Father have already ordered Surrey to do so, but they will not be more than a distraction. The harder they fight, the longer we get to prepare. But King Quentin is a coward, so it would not surprise me if he capitulated as soon as he could without risking to look like they willingly gave their country to Slytherin."

The others nodded agreeing, Lily too. As she was from Surrey she had grown up under that man's rule, and she hated him. He was the one who had created many of the laws restricting women. Even though most of them were tradition, before him many hadn't been actual laws.

"But on a lighter note." James said, smiling. "Moony is engaged, too."  
Immediately all attention was turned to the knight of the Wolf.  
"What is this?" Frank grinned. "Who is the lucky lady?"  
Remus blushed slightly, but he was beaming, his smile almost reaching from ear to ear as he brushed away his brown hair from his face.  
"Lady Nymphadora Tonks of Evermore Falls. The daughter of Count Ted and Countess Andromeda Tonks."  
"They have been writing ever since James' fifteenth birthday." Sirius said with a smirk. "Then they met again in Diagon, befriended each other again for a few days and then got engaged."  
"It's a long engagement, though, so we are not going to get wed for another few months."  
"But congratulations, Remus!" Alice cheered. "We met Lady Dora during the birthday ball. It was our first ball except the wedding feast as married, so I remember most people I met. She was very likable. I am sure you will be very happy together."  
"Thank you, Alice." Remus kept smiling like a lovesick fool. His friends chuckled at it, but they were all too happy for him to hold it against him. At least one of them would find love – Sirius wasn't even interested in romantic love, he thought the love of his friends, brother-in-arms and parents-by-love was enough, and Peter knew he was going to get an arranged marriage within a year or two. He didn't mind so much, though. He could grow to love his future wife, just like his parents had done before him.

The rest of the evening was spent on Dorcas' pub and they kept away from dark thoughts most of the time, even if they had to discuss some worse things now when they were in private, without spying servants or nobles. But most of the time they had a great time, drinking Dorcas' mead, rum, whisky and other drinks, and eating supper. Her chef was good, even if not as good as the royal of course, and after a while Lily too joined in. At the end of the evening they all took some of the rooms in the inn. The four boys all shared room, as there wasn't that many rooms and many of them were occupied. Sure, they could've taken three rooms, but two of them would've been forced to share either way, and they liked sharing room. They couldn't do it so often because it was improper, and the cabins at _the Marauder_ was too small.

The next morning they got up before dawn and ate breakfast with Lily, Frank, Alice and Dorcas. On the way to the dinner room James remembered something.  
"Hey, Moony." He said quietly, so no one else would hear. Remus nodded to show he was listening. "What was the thing with you and Greyback? That seemed like personal hate, over something worse than trying to kidnap you. Not that that's not something to feel hate for, but still… it was such a long time ago. You said something about an old man and an unborn baby too?"  
Remus froze for a moment before continuing walking.  
"Aye…" He mumbled. "Old man and unborn baby." He was quiet for a few moments. "I will tell you all back at the ship."  
James nodded, satisfied.

* * *

As they went back to the ship, James gave the crew their orders before leaving over the command to the third-mate, and the Marauders went to go sit in the officers' parlour on James' request.  
Remus sighed.  
"Lily, you can come too. You are one of us now, after all."  
Lily looked confused as she had no idea what this was about, but followed. They all sat down in the couches and armchairs. This was the only cabin on the entire ship which was clad out of looks, not how useful it would be. Mostly so they could have meetings on _the Marauder_ , should it be necessary.

Remus sighed as he poured himself some tea one of the cabin boys had come in and given them.  
"You know the privateer attacking us earlier?" He asked. "Fenrir Greyback?"  
His friends nodded, though all of them except James looked confused what this had do to with anything.  
"I've met him before. When I – we – were almost five, he and his crew came to Peverell Island. It was only a few days after you had left to go back to Gryffindale." Remus had a habit to slip back into a bit less informal way of speech when talking about his childhood before the Marauders. "It was a day like everyone else. Mum was home with me – she was very pregnant and unable to work right then – while dad, grandma and grandpa – dad's parents – were out working."  
James frowned. Remus didn't have any siblings.  
"Then grandpa came running home, and mum immediately knew it was bad if he had been running. He was old, and couldn't do much of that anymore. By then he and grandma could only do the easiest jobs we could get. He shouted for mum to hide me, and mum did so, in the stove."

"After only a few minutes a gang of men, Greyback's men though I didn't know that by that time, including the captain himself by some reason. They began to search the house to find something valuable, even though I've got no idea why they thought they'd find anything in our cottage. After about ten minutes I couldn't help but sneeze, and Greyback found me. I was covered in ashes, but apparently Greyback found me _appealing_." He said the last word with disgust and rubbed his arm, as though he could still feel Greyback's hand there. "His men was holding swords to the throats of mum and grandpa, but he was going to take me away. I was terribly afraid as he grabbed me and began forcing me to follow him. He said that he couldn't _wait_ to get me into his cabin. Those words are forever etched into my head." He shuddered, and his friends looked at him in horror. "But mum and grandpa weren't going to let them take me. They risked their lives, ducking under the swords and throwing themselves at him. The men were too shocked to react, luckily, or they would've both died."

"He… Grandpa succeeded to snatch me away from Greyback, but… Greyback wouldn't have any of it. He dragged his sword and… and sliced his head off, like it was nothing. Mum had gotten a grip on me, and I can still hear her scream, but she didn't hesitate when she threw me behind her, acting like a shield for me. Greyback jumped on her, punching her in the stomach, but though she must've been in horrible pain she didn't back off. I think… in that moment the soldiers ran in – all the royal guards hadn't left yet, so they were trying to catch Greyback – and hunted him away. The baby… the baby died, she got miscarriage because of the beating, and if they soldiers hadn't come when they did, she would probably have been killed. Grandpa was. Dad and grandma came home soon after, but… Greyback had killed my grandpa and my baby sibling already. That's why I hate him so much. After that, grandma began to give me her food when we didn't have enough, and she starved to death. I think she didn't want to live anymore after grandpa died." He finished.

The other kept staring at him in horror. Remus had been _so_ close to… no, James didn't even want to think about what would've happened to Remus hadn't his family been so brave. It must've been very traumatic, seeing with which clarity Moony seemed to remember it, too.  
"Oh, Remus!" Lily exclaimed and flew to her feet, hurrying forward and hugging him. "I'm so sorry."  
Remus smiled slightly.  
"It's okay, Lils. It was a long time ago, and I have gotten over it. It was horrible, and I am still sad over grandpa and my sibling, but it could have been so much worse."  
"But…"  
"Really."

They sat quietly for a while before Sirius snorted. They all looked at him, surprised.  
"Looks like I am not the only one here with terrible things happening to baby me."  
Remus smiled.  
"Certainly. But your childhood was definitely worse than mine, despite me not having food enough sometimes. At least I was not beaten half to death for disobedience."  
"True." Sirius shrugged.  
Lily looked slightly amazed over how they – especially Sirius – could take about the abuse during Padfoot's early years so nonchalantly. But it was simply because it was much easier to talk about it that way than letting it become emotional. Paddy didn't like to think about it too much, so they did it this way when it came up.

"Well, best to go up and make sure the crew does what they're supposed to do." Remus finished the conversation, clearly deciding he wouldn't talk about the subject more. James nodded and they all got on their feet to go to their respective duties.

* * *

The next two days they had fighting lessons with Lily, not only with sword but also with knives, fists (she was pretty good already but could need some honing), daggers and sticks. They only held to the basics, as they had limited time, but Lily did almost nothing but train when she didn't take care of the horses and showed great potential. James promised her that they would keep giving her lessons when they had time over when arriving. They would need to have them in secret, though, as the prince and his lords and knight giving fighting lessons to a stable _girl_ would cause quite the scandal. And now when so close to the wedding they couldn't risk that.

When arriving in Gryffindale the young men left to the port officials, crew and servants to get everything in order and immediately left for the castle.

As soon as they had changed from travelling clothes to every-day ones the king and queen showed up outside James and Sirius' chambers.  
"Mother. Father." James said as they all bowed lightly, despite them being alone.  
"Hello, dears." Queen Euphemia said, smiling. "Welcome home. The castle have been very silent without you here."  
The king and queen held out their arms, hugging both their sons – their son-in-blood and heir, and their son-in-love – before greeting Remus and Peter, who both accepted hugs too, although shorter.

"How did it go?" King Fleamont asked after a while. James sighed inwardly but forced a smile on his face.  
"The queen accepted. My marriage with Princess Isolde is secured, and to take place as soon as possible."  
"Wonderful!" The king said before looking more serious. "Listen, James, I am sorry for forcing you to this. I wish there was another way but…"  
"I know." James interrupted, sounding sharper than he meant to. "It is my duty, and it is an honour to serve the kingdom in this way. It is the only way to ensure an alliance and the survival of our kingdom and people."

Queen Euphemia looked at him sadly. Her marriage with the king had _technically_ been arranged, but they had fallen in love before it was set up, and she suspected her late father, the former count of Hogsmeade – now James had inherited the title, wouldn't have married her off to Fleamont if she hadn't already loved him. He had been a kind man who only had had her interest in mind. He had been the duke of Hogsmeade if he had wished for it, but instead he had asked to become count to get less responsibility. He hadn't wanted power.

"Mother, father…" he hesitated. "I have got a few things I need to do. Can we meet later? I promise Sirius and I will have supper with you, and then we can talk."  
"Of course, love." The king said, smiling compassionately. James smiled back, though slightly more strained, before leaving.  
"Catch up with you later?" He asked his friends and they nodded. They knew exactly where he was going, and were both worried and amused over it.

James made his way down to the royal stables, where everyone was busy as usual. He was surrounded by stable boys, horse keepers, knights, townspeople, guards, nobles, farmers from the countryside and much more. All kinds of people could be found here, which always was interesting. But at the moment James had a goal. He made his way toward the part of the stables which were the closest to the castle – where only the royals, the knights and the most important nobles had their horses. It was the high-security part, and filled with guards. But James didn't pay them any attention, as usual. They were shadows in the background, always there but not worth noting.

All the Phoenix horses were already in their stalls, and Mad snorted when noticing him. Smiling, he petted her until a stable boy showed up. The boy startled a little at the sight of him, but soon caught himself as the prince wasn't an unusual occurrence in the stables. He often just sat there in one of the stalls, doing nothing special. The boy bowed before going back to his usual business, just like James had told them to do unless he said something else.  
"Hey, you." He said something else now. The boy looked back, looking slightly shocked that the crown prince was talking to him. "Your name is Jimmy, is it not?"  
The boy's eyes widened in surprise. "Y-yes, your highness."  
James wasn't sure whether to it was fun or a bit sad that all the servants was so surprised every time he knew a name. He was a prince, but that didn't mean he didn't know that nothing would go around without the servants and appreciated them for it. Though, admittedly, he had only come to that realization when he was sixteen. Before that he had though the servants only a little more than animals, except a few chosen ones such as the Lupins and Dorcas.

"Have you seen Lily Evans, Jimmy?" He asked. "She is working here."  
Jimmy was almost gawking, but nodded.  
"She's at home, your highness. Lily lives on the Three Broomsticks. She's helping Madame Rosmerta in exchange for a place to live."  
James frowned. Lily had been living in Gryffindale for years by now, and she still lived at the Inn? That was a little odd.  
"Thank you, Jimmy. Then I will be on my way. Have a good day."  
"T-the same, your highness."

He thought of taking Mad or another horse down to the pub, but it wasn't that long, only a mile. He could walk that distance. Probably would wake less attention too, than if he came on a horse. He was glad he had chosen simple white and brown clothes. Except his glasses, he almost looked like any commoner. And except his hair, which he had inherited from his father, who had inherited it from his father and so on.

Walking down the streets of Gryffindor James enjoyed the atmosphere of his capital. He loved his city. The poverty had lessened the past year – though it risked to be bigger as a war would come, and a war always left poverty and suffering in its trail – so there was hardly any beggars on the street. The townsfolk were nice, most of them, and there was a friendly spirit over them all, though they of course were worried over the coming war. Watching a vender trying to sell fabrics he whistled for himself. It was nice to be anonymous once in a while. He enjoyed the attention he got from being heir to the throne, really, but this was very pleasant too.

Spotting the Three Broomsticks he waited until a carriage had passed before crossing the road and walked in. The barmaid smiled as she saw him.  
"Hello there, Captain Potter." Of course she knew who he was, but he had told her to call him by that name when he came here, to lessen the risk of someone noticing who he was. "Where's your mates?"  
"They are at home. I came alone. Jimmy – one of the stable boys – told me Lily Evans live here?"  
Madame Rosmerta raised an eyebrow.  
"What could you want with Lily?" That was one thing the Marauders appreciated with her. She didn't tiptoe around them despite knowing they held power. She said what she wanted to say and didn't let them stop her. Kind of like Lily, actually.  
"I am going to purchase her a sword from Ollivander, so I need her with me so he can take measurements."  
The barmaid looked surprised but didn't question it.  
"Wait here." Was all she said before leaving the bar over to one of the serving girls and leaving. Soon she returned with Lily in her trail. The redhead looked very confused when she saw him.

"James?" Madame Rosmerta raised an eyebrow again, but smirked slightly after a moment and shook her head. James had no idea why. He really hadn't. "What are you doing here?"  
"Mr Ollivander is leaving in a few days, and I am going to be busy with duties and preparations for the wedding. Yes, Madame," he added, looking toward Madame Rosmerta. "I am getting married. The official announcement should be made tomorrow." He turned back to Lily. "So if we want to get you a good sword, we will have to do it today."  
"I can't let you buy me a sword! Especially not an Ollivander! Even _I_ know how expensive those are."  
James snorted.  
"Flower, you do not seem to get this. I am the prince. Money does not matter. I could buy all of his swords, and it would not matter much, because I can always get more money. So yes, you are getting a sword today. An Ollivander. No discussion. Do not force make it an order, because I am not letting you use a bad weapon."  
Lily looked like she wanted to protest but then she sighed and shrugged before following him. Wise decision. Why say no to a sword of highest quality for free, after all?

"So, Lily, how come you still live on the pub? You have been here in almost two years."  
The horse keeper shrugged again.  
"I like it there. Rosmerta is really nice, and I get to live for free in exchange of a few late nights. Moreover, getting a house or flat is _expensive_. I don't have much money, my salary isn't that high. So the tip I get when working in the pub is welcome."  
James pondered over this. He supposed it was logical. Lily worked as a stable girl, not horse keeper, and the stable boys' salary was meant to be supporting for their family, not to provide all their income. He would have to look into this, and see if there was more of his staff – because he saw the stable crew as his staff as he was the royal who spent most time there – who had to take extra jobs to be able to survive. If it was, then he would have to pay them more.

They chatted and laughed most of the way back toward the castle. Lily didn't question why he hadn't taken a horse or carriage, which he found strangely endearing. Everyone in the court would've done that, even his friends. None of them seemed to appreciate to walk around anonymous in the same way he did, to feel the pulse of his city.  
Soon they reached the house where Ollivander lived when visited Gryffindale. It was directly outside the castle walls, as he didn't want to live within the castle. The Ollivanders had always been a bit eccentric, but they were incredibly skilled, so no one would ever say anything if they wanted to make affairs with them.

Lily rolled her eyes as James held up the door.  
"I'm a big girl, you know." She said. "I can open doors myself. I've probably done it a lot more than you have, _your highness_."  
James smirked.  
"I do not deny it. I had probably never touched a door except when breaking out of my nursery and opening the secret passageways in the castle before the age of ten. But it is courtesy, to hold up doors for ladies. That is how I am raised."

"Ah, your highness." A voice came from the inside of the shop, and the heir of Gryffindor smiled as he led Lily inside. He liked the old man.  
"Mr Ollivander." He greeted. "A pleasure to see you again."  
"Same, your highness. Who is this?"  
"Lily Evans, a friend of mine. I want to get her a sword. I think a M1685 Carolinian. That is what we used while on _the Marauder_."

Ollivander looked at Lily from top to toe, surveying her.  
"Perhaps…" He mumbled. "Perhaps."  
"Oh, and do not worry about money. I am paying." James added, which got the old sword smith to snort. James was sure he heard something about 'young love' from the man's mouth, but decidedly ignored it.  
"No. Not a Carolinian." Ollivander decided. "You are lucky, girl. I have got the perfect sword for you."  
Lily looked at James, who only shrugged, as Ollivander disappeared into the back of his shop. The man was odd, it was as simple as that. He came out with a sword James recognized, but it was much smaller than it usually was.  
"Here. A two handed Claymore, although much shorter and lighter than they usually are. I made this sword only the last week. I felt like someone would have use of it." He handed it over to Lily, who took it carefully. "Double edged, finest steel, 35.4 inches, 4.4 pounds. Swing it."

Lily made some careful movements. James smiled when a grin lightened up her face.  
"It feels right." She commented as she dared to move it faster, after making sure she had a safe distance to everything.  
"Of course it does. I made it." Ollivander replied shortly, even though James could tell he was happy.  
"How much, sir?" James asked and Ollivander looked thoughtful.  
"I'll give you discount as you're one of my most loyal customers. Twenty golds."

A clang was heard as Lily dropped the sword. The prince looked over at her in surprise, but she was just staring at them in shock, seemingly not even having noticed that she wasn't holding the Claymore anymore.  
"Lily?" James asked confusedly. What was this?  
"Tw… twenty golds?!" She exclaimed. "I've not had that much money in my entire life! You could buy an entire farm for that much money! And now you're going to buy a sword to someone you hardly _know_ for that sum? I can't allow it!"  
James couldn't help it. He laughed.  
"Lily…" He shook his head when he had stopped laugh. "I have already told you. I am rich. Very rich. Twenty gold coins is almost nothing. I have outfits worth more money than that. Completely ridiculous, sure, but as they are filled with jewels I suppose you cannot really expect otherwise."

"That's… that's terrible!" Lily said, blinking. James frowned. Sure, the clothes looked pretty dumb, but why would it be terrible? They had been in fashion a few years ago.  
"You've got _clothes_ who seems to be worth more money than I'll earn my entire life! And despite how rich you royals are, there are people _starving_. I know people who don't have food enough to eat. _Remus_ didn't have food enough to eat when he was little. Why don't you _do_ something?"

James felt shaken. He wasn't really used to anyone shouting at him. And sure, he could see her point, but…  
"Lily, I do not think you completely understand politics, and especially not international politics. As a royal court we are supposed to keep up with the fashion and everything else which is important in the society, otherwise we will not be as respected by the other courts. And if we are not respected, then the kingdom will be in danger. Despite that, not all of our money is from taxes, you know. We have got private sources, such as mines belonging to _us_ , not the royal family. But listen." He dragged a hand over his face. "I am really tired after the journey. I promise I will explain international politics to you someday, but can we please just get you your sword and leave. I have got supper with Sirius and my parents and then I just want to go to bed. Acceptable?"

Lily still looked annoyed and slightly angry, but nodded.  
"Fine."

James paid and they left the shop. It took a while before Lily stopped looking sour, but when they reached the Three Broomsticks again she was smiling. Just before he left to walk back to the castle she caught his arm.  
"James…" She said. "I guess I didn't say this earlier, when I was angry. Thank you. For the sword, and for teaching me."  
Then she stood on her tiptoes before dragging his head down so she would reach, and pecked him on the cheek.  
"I've never had anyone who bothered teaching me these things, just because I am a woman."

James blinked and felt himself flushing. His heart hammered hard. _Sol_ , she wasn't making this easy for him, was she?  
"We… well.. I…" He stuttered before taking a deep breath. "You are very welcome." He finally said. She smiled and waved before walking into the pub, and James had a new swing to his steps as he walked back to the castle.

* * *

 **Yeah... that took longer than expected. Sorry.  
I'm not completely happy with this, I think it's beginning to get pretty boring this story. It's mostly the ending I don't think is boring (I've got most of it written already, it's only the way there I need to get down on paper/screen).**

 **If it's okay with you I'm thinking of making most of the remains of the story into snippets and that kind of things (it will still be coherent, of course), because that is much easier to write and will probably be a lot more interesting to read too. Less boring.**

 **Well, this story is certainly making me doa lot of research. On how to write battle scenes, on different kinds of swords (at the moment I couldn't care less that the time periods the swords were popular was probably completely different) and social rules in a royal court. It's pretty interesting, especially the last part. I've read a lot about weddings, and some traditions were completely ridiculous.  
Also, you won't get any details about Lily's lessons, because I don't know the first thing about sword fighting. The only weapon I can use (I'm no master, but pretty good) is the bow.**

 **Ah, well. I hope I didn't bore you too much.**

 **Also, this is completely unedited, so any mistakes is probably because of that, because neither I nor my Beta have read this through. I've been writing this for four hours straight and it is also in the middle of the night I want to go to bed to get it finished so I don't have the energy and just want to publish it.**


	12. Chapter IX: A small inconvenience

**Disclaimer: Everything you might recognize from Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling**

The carriage and the entourage surrounding it made its way through Gryffindor's plains. As the tradition was the bride, if possible, wouldn't travel with ship even if it was faster. Instead they took the way on land, except when they sailed over the Strait of course, so she would get to get to familiarize herself with her new home land. For the moment they were travelling through the outskirts of Anneau, the part of the country which was owned by the Longbottom family. They was on their way to the city of Anneau where Longbottom castle was placed, and would spend the night there, thanks to Lord Frank and Lady Alice Longbottom's hospitality. According to the papers she had had to read before departing from her home in Diagon Lord Longbottom's father, Lord Axel Longbottom, had died five months prior upon which his oldest son had taken over the responsibility for the estate and the position as one of the Kingdom of Gryffindor's most powerful nobles.

Her Royal Highness Princess Isolde of the Hufflepuff Dynasty of the Kingdom of Hufflepuff smiled as she looked outside the window. They were getting closer to the Wild Moors, so there was less trees and that kind of flora, but Anneau was beautiful. There was great fields filled with crops in different colours and she could see cows and other animals graze in their paddocks. A bit away she saw a small village, and she supposed the farmers that tilled the grounds lived there. What an uncomplicated life it must be, being a farmer. Just farm your grounds, take care of your creatures and your family. Sounded rather idyllic. Of course there was a lot of hard work, being a farmer, but at least not any diplomatic plays and probably no arranged marriages.

It wasn't that Isolde had anything against marrying Prince James. He was kind, he was intelligent, handsome and would be a good husband, king and father to her children. She harboured no doubts about those things. It was just that she had liked to do more before she got married off. Not any wild adventures or something, that wasn't her kind of thing – even if they seemed to be James' – but a little more bit of freedom. Also, she had quickly understood he was in love with the stable girl – Lily Evans. It wasn't hard to understand from the gazes he gave her. But she knew that he wouldn't let that stop him from strengthen the alliance, which was promising for his time as king.  
But you couldn't get anything and she had already gotten so much, so she would marry Prince James if that was what was needed to ensure the future of her old and new countries. Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. Her mother, the queen, had told her to marry this man, and so she would.

"Are you nervous?" Elaine, her best friend and lady-in-waiting who followed her on the long journey and would move with her to Gryffindale. Isolde turned to her with a smile.  
"No, I…" She began to answer but was interrupted by the sound of galloping hooves and the guards outside seemed upset. Both Isolde and Elaine looked out through the window. Neither was able to supress a scream at the sight that met them. Outside a group of at least twenty men in armours came toward them, with weapons dragged. They had no emblems on their armours, but as they shouted something to each other Isolde recognized the accent of a Slytherin.

Her guards and knights surrounded the carriage, ready to defend their princess with their lives, but the Slytherins were just too many. It would be a slaughter. As the first of the Slytherins reached them a battle broke out. A man in armour stabbed his sword right through the chest of one of the knights of Hufflepuff. Hufflepuffian knights were fierce and skilled soldiers, but they were so many fewer than the Slytherins. They hadn't expected anything like this, they should be safe in Isolde's new country, so they had a minimal guard with them. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Within about ten minutes all of her guards and knights were lying dead on the ground. Elaine shrieked again.  
 _Slap_. Isolde had hit her cheek.  
"We have got no time for panic now." She said, deathly afraid, but she would not go down without a fight. Her lady-in-waiting nodded and they hurried to throw away the seat from Elaine's side of the carriage. Underneath it two swords were placed.

They were both dressed in long skirts, not the most practical clothes for battle, but at least they had weapons. And they had both been trained in the arts of the Sword from a very young age. No, they would not go down without a fight. Standing back against back they waited for the Slytherin knights and soldiers to reach the carriage. They would be walking in within seconds, and both Isolde and Elaine knew that unless they were taken hostage neither would walk from here alive. But they would take as many with them in death as possible. They would die an honourable death.

The door to the carriage was thrown open, so violently it almost fell off its hinges, and a grinning man stood in the opening.  
"Such pretty little things." He said. "It's almost too bad we've got to kill you. You could've been a lot of fun. Now, why don't you put down those toys and are quiet, like good little girls?"  
Isolde spat in his face.  
"Oh, you…" The man began to roar, but he didn't come any longer as he suddenly had a sword piercing through him. He coughed before falling to the ground, dead. The princess stared at him in shock but then looked over her shoulder and saw Elaine drag the bloody sword out of the man before he fell. She had to admit she was impressed. Elaine could fight, but she hadn't actually thought she had the guts to kill someone.  
"Shut your dirty mouth." Was all her lady-in-waiting said before another soldier showed up, and the door on the other side was opened.  
"Shall we go down together?" She asked, smiling coldly.  
"Together." Was all she got in reply before they both screamed the Hufflepuffian war cry and attacked.

* * *

It had been two months since James' proposal to the princess of Hufflepuff and the wedding was to be held within two weeks. It was believed that the princess would arrive in about eight days and then the last preparations should be made before the ceremony.  
The Marauders had been working practically non-stop in preparing the royal marriage, there was so much that should be done and decided. Invitations, dishes, decisions about decorum, clothes, best man (Sirius, obviously), groomsmen (Remus and Peter, of course, but there was a lot of important nobles that must have a place in the entourage and some of the males must therefore be groomsmen)… the list was endless.

Every so often Lily joined them nowadays (discretely, they couldn't afford that anyone thought something more improper than friendship between the classes was going on) fork work, and for lessons (which were held even more discretely), but today it was only them. They wanted some times for themselves for once. They were sitting in James' private parlour, which was a lot more homely that his public one – the public were where he met foreign dignitaries and his own nobles in if they were important enough to be invited to the Prince's chambers.  
All of them were dishevelled and laughing, they had just returned from a wild ride in the forest. It had been an eternity since they had been able to do that the last time, but now when they finally had done it again they felt reborn. There was few things better than a race through the Autumn forest.  
"We won!" Sirius bragged. He and James had reached the goal in the exact same moment, about five whole seconds before Remus and fifteen before Peter. Remus shook his head, but smiled. He was sure his friends had cheated, somehow, but he couldn't prove anything so he kept quiet. And what did it matter? It was only a race, after all.

Suddenly it knocked on the door, a rough and hurried knock. James frowned. Who would dare to disturb them now? He had given strict orders that they would not be disturbed, and his parents had promised to give him the evening off.  
"Come in." He called out and the heavy oak door quickly was opened. One of the members of the royal guard ran in, which was strange, because he was stationed in Anneau at the moment, – Sir Matthias Johnson. He looked extremely distressed and had a wild look on his face. James' frown deepened.  
"What is going on?" He asked and Johannes' gaze caught his.  
"It is Princess Isolde, sire." He swallowed. "Her entourage was attacked in Anneau. Her highness is dead."

After getting an explanation on what the hell was going on, James immediately sent Remus and Peter to get things ready to leave in the morning. Necessities should be packed, knights to accompany them should be chosen and everyone of importance had to be informed. They had been the first ones in the castle to get to know as it was James' bride, even before the king and queen.  
"What are you going to do?" Sirius asked. He was staying to keep James company and make sure the prince didn't worry himself to death. James was walking back and forth in the room while Sirius was still lounging in the couch, though his posture was a lot more tense than earlier.  
"I don't know." James admitted, almost falling into the couch next to Sirius. The knight threw his arm over James' shoulder, sensing his brother could need the comfort. This was serious. Really serious. This could mean that their alliance with Hufflepuff would be completely destroyed. If Queen Tanwen thought this was Gryffindors – if it _was_ Gryffindors – then it could mean a war on two fronts. They were strong, but they had no chance to fight both Hufflepuff _and_ Slytherin on the same time. "I don't know." He sounded so defeated it physically hurt Sirius to hear. "I… why now? Why? I mean… this could be catastrophic. This could be the damnation of our nation, and it can be discussed it is _my_ fault. I should've made sure she had protection enough. She was my bride. My wife-and-queen-to-be."

"Wait now." The heir of Gryffindale said sharply, looking straight into the heir of Gryffindor's brown eyes. "This is _not_ your fault, and only an idiot would think it was. The Hufflepuffs was the ones responsible for her protection. All her guards were _Hufflepuffs_. There wasn't a single Gryffindor in there, just like tradition says. You even offered to give them some of us knights, but they said no, insisting on tradition. It is not your fault."  
"But I was responsible. I _am_ responsible for everything having to do with this war, as father is too old and left over to me. I knew it was war, and still I did not insist."  
"Then you can might as well argue it was Frank and Alice's fault. It was their grounds, their estate. They are responsible for the security of their own estate. Was it their fault, Prongs?"

James looked horrified, staring at him.  
"Of course it was not. They have even put out extra guards all over Anneau."  
"My point exactly. It was not their fault. It was not yours. It was the fault of those who did it, and possibly of her mother who did not give her more soldiers. Even though we can of course not say that, as it would be very offensive and cruel and I am sure she already knows."  
Smiling slightly, though disbelieving, the messy haired man nodded. Sirius couldn't help but sigh. His best friend always thought himself responsible for everything that happened to anyone he cared about, or anything he cared about. When Sirius got injured during exercise with the knights he had held himself responsible for 'not stopping it in time' despite him sparring with another knight while Sirius was sparring with Sir Anthony (who had apologized profusely to him when he was lying in the hospital wing). When they had been younger they had both been pretty indifferent about hurting people they didn't care much about and had been pretty cruel (mostly words and childish bullying, but there had been a few occasions when they had truly abused their power), but as they had grown older especially James had begun to care a lot about every single one of his subjects, all the way from Sirius (his to-be second-in-command in ruling the kingdom) to the poorest of the serfs. It was an admirable quality of a ruler, for sure, but Sirius sometimes cursed it since it meant that James would react so badly every time something less good happened. Like now, taking the blame for something that certainly was not his fault. Hopefully he would get better at handling things before he inherited the throne and crown.

* * *

Soon it was time to leave. The stable staff had their horses ready on the yard and the four men and their knights – as small a guard as possible, for stealth – hurried down there.  
"James?" Lily said quietly. She was the one who was holding Mad. She looked at him, confused. "What's going on?"  
"Princess Isolde is dead." James explained, tone a little shorter than it should be. But no one could blame him, right? His fiancée had just been killed. "Outside Anneau. We are going there now. We will see you when we are back, Lils."  
Her eyes widened but she nodded and backed away as the Marauders and their knights hurried out of the castle yard in gallop.

* * *

They reached Anneau in record speed. Only one and a half day. They had only stayed to sleep and only gone slower when the horses wouldn't be able to keep up anymore. One of the Longbottoms' knights met them at the border and showed them the way to where it had happened. Another knight rode to announce their arrival to their master and mistress.

As they reached the location of the crime James was almost possessed by an urge to puke. He had seen death before, he had _ordered_ death once, when his father had put him on judge duty, but nothing, _nothing_ , like this. The dead people wasn't that many, truth to be told, Isolde had only had a minimum of about fifteen men and women – fewer women, but there was _women_ there, _women_ had been ruthlessly killed here – and about twenty men without uniform – probably the attackers – but the scene… many of them had been gutted, they were bloody and looked like they had been beaten up and wow, there really had been no mercy here.

Some guards hurried up to them when they arrived, but immediately stepped away as they recognized the prince and his friends. They sat off.  
Holding out the reins for some knights to take the four of them approached the carriage, careful not to step on anyone.

"Your highness! Milords!" Alice's voice came from behind. As this in a way was a formal situation, they weren't at first name basis at the moment, at least not in front of the guards and other knights. They turned around quickly as the lady of Anneau and her escort came toward them on her horse. Frank was nowhere to be seen.

Soon she had reached them and given her horse to a servant who had been riding with her. Curtseying quickly she gestured toward the devastation.  
"Five days ago a group of guards who had been patrolling the area found them. After having the healers look at them we think they had been dead for about five hours when we found them." She explained the situation. "We have not searched or moved anything but what was necessary for the healers, and to make sure no one was alive, as we thought you would like to see the scene as we found it."  
"Thanks, Alice." Sirius said quietly, too low for anyone but them to hear. She nodded once.  
"And then there's this."

She led them toward the carriage and opened the door. In there Princess Isolde and a lady who had to be her lady-in-waiting or chambermaid or something. They were lying in a pool of dried blood, a there was men on the floor and they both had knives in their chests. Remus immediately bowed down and began to look them over. When he stood up again he looked more serious than they had ever seen him.  
"They put those knives in themselves." He told the others. "Both has great wounds in their stomachs, so probably someone – perhaps one of them," he pointed at the men at the floor, "stabbed them there, and they must have been in incredible pain. So they killed themselves. You can see that on the angle and force the knives must've been put in their chests. Perhaps because they wanted to die on their own accords, too."  
"Sounds like something Princess Isolde would do." Peter nodded. He had taken liking to the princess, and James honestly thought that this was a bigger personal loss for Wormtail than for him. He had liked the princess, sure, but… he was more worried for the alliance with Hufflepuff than he cared about his own loss of her.

"Do we know who they are?" Sirius swallowed as he asked it. Alice shook her head.  
"No. There is nothing on their clothes showing where they come from. Even the material is from four of the Great Nations. Hufflepuffian shirt, Hogwartian trousers, Slytherin boots, Ravenclaw weapons. Nothing from Gryffindor. We are not sure if that was made deliberately or not. It could have been a try to blame us, or they simply did not need more."  
James nodded sharply.  
"Search them." He ordered his own knights and everyone began to look through pockets and everywhere else the foreign warriors might have a clue about where they come from. Of course, they must be Slytherins, but no one could actually voice that thought in front of any officials from the different courts without evidence.

Nothing. They found _nothing_. _Not. A. Single. Thing._ There wasn't anything that could give a clue about where they came from. Despite his horror and tiredness, James was slightly impressed. This took some seriously good planning.

They spent the night at Frank and Alice's before riding back to Gryffindale.

* * *

 _Your Majesties._ James dipped his quill in the ink. How did you tell someone that their daughter and oldest child had been brutally murdered by unknown offenders on the way to her wedding?  
 _I am terribly sorry to tell you_ – no. Just no. He took a new parchment. Of course, he could've had a scribe author the letter for him, but that would just be tasteless and perhaps offending.  
 _It is my deepest sorrow to inform you_ – oh, how did you do something like this? – _that Her Highness, Princess Isolde,_ he took a deep breath _is dead. As her highness and her entourage passed Lord and Lady Longbottom's estate, Anneau, they got attacked by a smaller army, most likely. We do not know at the moment who the offenders were and where they came from, but rest assured that we will do our outmost to catch them and send them to you, as Father, Mother and I have discussed this and we find it the least we can do to allow you to punish them._

 _Princess Isolde's carriage was found five days ago by an Anneau guard. I will spare you the details in this letter, but I have attached another parchment, would you want to know._

 _We will send her body to you, it should arrive within a few days, so your majesties can bury her. As the marriage never happened she is not a Gryffindor, but a Hufflepuff, and therefore it is your right to bury her on your own grounds._

 _I cannot express just how much I regret I have to tell you this, and that I would do anything to make it undone, but there is nothing I – or anyone – can do. It is too late._

 _My condolences,  
James, Crown Prince of Gryffindor, and no longer your majesties' future son-in-law_

He rolled the letters together and sighed as he stroked Bastet's fur. She had curled up in his lap as he wrote the letter.  
Waving for the owl sitting in the window to come down James tied it to the owl's letter and it set off toward the royal castle in Diagon.  
"Bast, what am I going to do?" He asked the cat, lifting her up and burying his face in her fur, letting the feelings of hopelessness wash over him.

* * *

"James, have you written to the king and queen of Hufflepuff yet?" Queen Euphemia asked. The royal family were sitting around a table in the king and queen's private parlour, having a dinner only them for once. Sirius leaned up on the table, looking very worried.  
"Yes, mother." James replied, moving his food around his plate. "I sent it only a few hours ago."  
"Good. Let us just hope they do not blame us. Not that I would blame them if they did. If that happened to any of you, boys…" The queen shuddered as she watched her two sons.  
"Do not worry, mother." Sirius said with a small smile. James marvelled over how natural it was that Sirius called the queen 'mother', and how much his brother's face shone up with joy every time he said it. "Nothing will happen to us. And you know I will not let anything happen to Prongs as long as I live. Neither will Remus nor Peter."  
King Fleamont smiled tenderly.  
"Of course we know. But we do not want anything to happen to you either. You are just as much our son as James is, even if he is the heir. Or Remus and Peter. You are all family even if Remus and Peter are not our children."  
"I will not let anything happen to Pads either." James vowed. It was true. He loved Sirius so much it almost frightened him, as it was quite possible he would choose to save Sirius instead of his kingdom, should he ever need to make that choice. That probably wasn't a good quality of a ruler. But somehow he felt like the king would do the same for anyone in their family.  
"Now, why do we not change to more cheerful subjects?" Queen Euphemia suggested. "We have got enough to think of, we do not need to do it at the table."  
The other three members of the royal family nodded. Sounded like a good idea.

The following days were pure torture as they waited for a reply letter from the king and queen of Hufflepuff. On the outside all of them put on a brave front, they were the royals and the prince's closest friends after all, they had to show themselves strong in front of the people. But when the four of them were together and with the king and queen they all were extremely anxious. The way Queen Tanwen choose to handle this could decide the entire future of the Kingdom of Gryffindor. After two days Lily got tired of their absence and the fact that they didn't explain anything for her, and marched straight to James and Sirius' chambers through the secret passageways they had showed her – James had used them when sneaking out from his rooms since he was about nine years old – and demanded answers.

It felt a little better when Lily was there, but not that much. It was still extremely frightening. So when the five youths were sitting in the prince and lord's private parlour and Nathan – the only servant who knew about their friendship with Lily – came with a newly arrived owl all of them flew onto their feet as James practically ripped the letter of the owl's leg. He read aloud as soon as Nathan had disappeared again. It was a short letter.

 _No. Do not send them here. Punish them. I want them punished. Make them suffer. Torture is forbidden in Hufflepuff, and unlike you Gryffindorian royalty I am not above the law. But we want them to suffer for what they did to our daughter, and sister. Catch them, and make them pay for what they did._

 _But do not worry, your highness, we do not believe it was you Gryffindors. It was so obviously Slytherins. From what I am concerned, they just declared war upon the Kingdom of Hufflepuff. You have our complete support, and all the means you would have gotten if the marriage had gone through with. Slytherin will attack Gryffindor first of the Great Nations. You are too much of a threat, being the nation of warriors you are. They will not let you attack their back._

 _When the time comes, we will be there. And make sure they regret what they did to my Isolde._

 _Tanwen, Queen of Hufflepuff_

James couldn't help but breathe in relief. They still had their neighbour's backing up. He felt, rather than saw, his friend do the same, even Lily, who didn't know half as much about international politics as they did.  
"Wow." Remus sounded amazed. "This is cold-blooded of me, but… I had _no idea_ Queen Tanwen could be so blood-thirsty. Just… wow."  
"Of course she is." Lily said, sniffing. "Her only daughter just got killed. Of course she wants revenge."  
"True." Peter nodded. "Should we not tell their majesties, by the way?"  
Sirius gave a start.  
"Of course. Shall I?"

James nodded and the black haired man was soon gone.  
"Thank Godric." He couldn't help but sigh as he read the letter again, sinking into a couch in relief, and for the first time in days he smiled without feeling too worried.

* * *

"That is wonderful news." The king said. Lily had left, as the king and queen didn't know about their sons' friendship with the stable girl yet. "I can hardly believe it."  
Mr Lupin held out a plate with drinks onto and the king took one. Remus' father was smiling, looking almost as relieved as the king and queen. He had known all of this, just like Mrs Lupin, of course. He was Remus' father and one of King Fleamont's most trusted servants, after all. He then went around and offered it to everyone else.  
"Thanks, dad." Remus said, smiling and looking slightly excusing. The knight still thought it extremely weird, and a bit embarrassing, that he was so much above his own parents in status and technically could order them around. For a fact, Remus could have his own mother whipped if he so wished and had a reason for it. James supposed it was natural. He had probably too found it very strange if his father had been serving him drinks.

"Definitely." James agreed. "This is the best possible outcome from this."  
"It sure is." The queen agreed. "But we still need more allies to ensure our victory. Boys, I think it might be time to visit your great uncle, Jamie."

* * *

 **Yay! An update! Incredible, huh?  
Yeah... sorry for that. I've had the first part finished for a month but haven't been able to write more than that. Today I forced myself to do it. So this is not read through or anything, just written and published. This was a bad chapter. But it was mostly a chapter to actually make things go forward. I think the following chapters (there's not much left now!) can be better, because I actually have a few ideas. And I don't think the next chapter will be written in the same form like this, and actually be fluid. I hope so.**

 **Well, review, because reviews is the only thing that actually keeps me working at this. They're the only thing that keeps this fic alive, I think.  
**

 **This chapter is dedicated to Valypuff, because you seem to be the only one who is actively following this fic and I want to thank you for that because I actually _want_ to finish it but I'm not sure I would be able to without you. So thank you. :)**


	13. Chapter X: Hogwarts

**Look! It's a miracle. The first 1000 words is something I wrote about a year ago, the rest is basically me telling you what happens in a non-fictional way just to give you some closure. Now I'll upload the epilogue, which I wrote long before most of these chapters.**

* * *

The journey to Hogwarts and Queen Euphemia's uncle was prepared and travelled quickly. This time only James, Sirius and Lily took on the journey; Remus and Peter were both forced to stay at home. Remus had taken over the training of the knights in James' and Sirius' absence – someone had to prepare them for war – and Peter's parents had him take up the administrative duties of their estate. Lily followed the prince and future duke to care for the horses. Or, that was the official reason anyway. In reality, James just wanted her cold-headed logic and the comfort her presence gave. Most of all the last. Sirius only smirked knowingly when he heard she was coming with them.

After _the Marauder_ and its crew arrived in Phoenix, Hogwarts' biggest port town and the longest they could come with ship they travelled the rest of the way to Hogsmeade with carriages. In difference to Gryffindale and Diagon none of Hogwarts', Slytherin's or Ravenclaw's capitals were placed next to the coast. Ravenclaw simply because they didn't have a coast, though. They were placed between Hogwarts, Hufflepuff, Slytherin and the Wilds.

As they arrived in Hogsmeade with their carriages they were greeted by the king's right hand advisor by the city gates. James and Sirius grinned in delight when they saw her.

"Minnie!" They both exclaimed, not caring about manners. They hadn't seen their old tutor for years. For a moment Lady and Professor Minerva McGonagall looked like she might reprimand them as they stepped out of the carriage, but then thought better of it. She smiled back.

"Hello, boys. It was a long time ago, wasn't it?" She had stopped tutoring them and returned to Hogwarts when they were fourteen. Then she gasped slightly as they both threw themselves on her and hugged her tightly. She chuckled slightly and hugged back before they let go. With sweeping bows they both offered their arms to her.

"Do we get the honour to have you as our guest in our carriage, milady Minnie?" Sirius asked smoothly, although his mischievous grin destroyed it a little bit. McGonagall curtseyed slightly and took both their arms as they escorted her to their carriage.

"Lils, this is Minerva McGonagall, professor on the University of Hogwarts, lady of Caithness, and most prized advisor of his majesty, the king of Hogwarts." James said as he opened the door and saw Lily stare at them in confusion. They had sneaked her into their carriage so they would be able to talk to her during the journey. Minnie raised an eyebrow and them as the redhead quickly got on her feet and curtseyed. However, as she watched the young men's innocent looks, she smiled and offered her hand to Lily, who took it. When they reached the castle the two of them were talking almost more openly than the Marauders spoke with her.

The first that happened as they reached the Castle of Hogwarts was for them to get escorted to the throne room. Normally they would've been shown to their rooms and have cleaned up before, but with the ties James had to the king and the urgent matter of which they were here to discuss that didn't happen.

"Hey, Minnie." Sirius grinned as they walked through the hallways. "Why did the skeleton go alone to the ball?"

McGonagall rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile. These boys (not boys anymore) and their jokes… She shook her head to show she didn't know.

"He had _no body_ to go with!" James finished the joke and the two Marauders broke into fits of laughter as McGonagall and Lily snorted in amusement.

"I've got another one." The prince said. "How did the skeleton know it would rain?"

Nothing.

"He could feel it in his bones!"

"When does a skeleton smile? – When something bumps into his funny bone!"

"What did the skeleton say to another skeleton when they told a lie? – You can't fool me. I can see _right through you_!"

They kept going and Lily noticed some of the servants choking back their laughter as they passed them. Then she realized something.

"Hey, why am I still here? Shouldn't I be with the other servants?"

James blinked.

"Oh. Right. I… suppose so?"

"Nah." Sirius smirked and threw an arm over Lily's shoulders. Screw inappropriate, they were in Hogwarts now and here the rules weren't as strict as home. _Strict_ , but not as strict. "You are practically one of us now. Come meet Dumbledore. I suppose that is okay, Minnie?"

"I would think so, Sirius. And I do not think Albus would care either way."

They reached the throne room and made their entrance. James heard Lily gasp. He kind of understood why. Hogwarts was a sight to behold. It was even more embellished than the Castle of Gryffindor and the Castle of Hufflepuff. Which didn't say a little. On the throne in the front of the room the King of Hogwarts, Albus of the Dumbledore Dynasty, sat. He smiled kindly when they went up to the throne and fell on their knees in greeting.

"Rise, my children." He said and they all stood up. James grinned.

"Hello, Uncle Albus. A pleasure to see you again."

The Gryffindors, except Lily, the King of Hogwarts, and the king's closest advisors all sat down around the table in the king's private parlour. The room was beautiful, filled with strange contraptions and thousands of books covered the walls. On the walls paintings of former rulers hung.  
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he turned to his late brother's daughter's son.

"So, James, what brings you here? If it not is simply for my delightful company?"

The prince laughed and smiled at his great uncle.

"I am afraid not. We have come here to plead for Hogwarts' assistance in the coming war against Slytherin. We have received a promise of help from Hufflepuff, but we need more allies. Slytherin is stronger than ever, and its ruler is a maniac."

The atmosphere sobered quickly. Dumbledore straightened his back even more as he peered over his glasses.

"Yes. Of course we will help you. But as you understand, until there is straight out war, we will have to keep our alliance secret. I want to keep the peace for my subjects as long as possible. We have a few diplomats from the Snake's Kingdom here at the moment, and I do not doubt they will report anything of interest directly to the emperor."

James and Sirius sagged in relief. They hadn't thought the king would object to helping them, but nothing could ever be sure until you had gotten it officially promised when it came to politics. They knew that all too well.

"Thank you."

Lily made her way through the hallways of the Castle of Hogwarts. It most certainly was a beautiful place. The castle home in Gryffindor was very pretty, but it was built more for function than looks. It was needed, seeing how Gryffindor was a nation of warriors and the capital was placed next to the ocean. This, on the other hand, was in the heart of Hogwarts, and structured for beauty. The castle in Diagon was ever more good-looking, since Hufflepuff first and foremost were filled with craftsmen, and that included architects. But this was still one of the most beautiful sights she had ever seen.

Snape shows up, he's there as a diplomat from Slytherin. He has managed to fight his way up the social hierarchy. Lily sees him, and panics. He tries to greet her but she runs away and hides in the stables.

James finds her and calms her down.

A while later, she realizes that she's in love with James. She's in the stables again and is kind of hit by a momentous inferiority complex, and rants to Sirius about how she can't marry James. He's royalty and she's a commoner and if, _if_ , they'd marry she'd become queen. Sirius yells at her for being stupid and basically forces her to accept her feelings.

Somehow James gets to know it, and they start dating.

They get support from Hogwarts.

They get home, James manages to get his parents' blessings ("I was going to marry for duty, let me do this for love.")

The war rages, but things go well. James proposes. Lily accepts.

The boys go out in war, Lily demands to follow them. She too fights, although in disguise. Voldemort is killed. Peace.


	14. Epilogue

**18 years old**

James smiled when he looked at his newly appointed fiancée. She was so beautiful, with her flowing warm red hair that was placed in an intricate design, sun-kissed skin and wonderful green eyes. Of course, her new dress didn't make her look any less beautiful either. It was a beautiful purple dress that highlighted her eyes together with the emeralds which had almost exactly the same colour as her eyes that was placed over the dress. There were also a few sapphires, diamonds, amethysts and a few tourmalines, but most of the jewels were sapphires. On her hand a golden engagement ring was placed, with two simple stones on it. A brown agate with another green sapphire in the middle of the agate. The smiths had had a hard job to place them together, but the result was definitely worth the money he had paid. Of course the stones represented his brown eyes and Lily's green ones.

He himself was dressed in clothes worthy for the prince he was. Usually he preferred a little less formal and lavish clothes, just like Lily, but today they had decided to wear these clothes just to show off James' wealth and status. A little revenge, so to say. On his finger a ring glimmered too, even though it wasn't on the same finger. A golden ring was placed on his right hand with a big ruby which had his coat of arms engraved in it. The symbol of the crown prince of Gryffindor, and James' personal weapon.  
Lily smiled back to him and he bowed and offered her his arm, which she took, and they left James' rooms in the royal castle of Surrey. James and Lily walked down to the courtyard where their carriage awaited them. The driver, Jonathan, bowed and opened the door and they stepped in.

As they made their way through Surrey's capital, Whinging (a ridiculous name if you asked James – and Lily and almost every Gryffindor), Lily fiddled a little with her skirt. She wasn't too used to wearing skirts, even though she was a woman, simply because she found trousers so much more comfortable. But she supposed she had to get used to it now when she would be a princess of Gryffindor and the future queen.

"Are you nervous, Lils?" James asked her with a smile as he watched her. He couldn't wait for them to reach their destination. Lily stopped fiddling and looked up at him and shrugged, careful not to do anything to damage her hairdo even a little.

"Not particularly. It's just… I haven't seen them for so long. I don't know how they'll react."

Her fiancé grinned and caressed her bare arm.

"Oh, believe me, this will be _perfect_."

Lily nodded and grinned back. It will be.

After around fifteen minutes of travelling they reached the estate they had been searching for. It was quite a boring house, even if it was relatively big. The house itself was made of grey stone, and could've looked cosy if everything hadn't been so perfect. The garden was perfectly taken care of, the lawn short and not a blade of grass between the stones on the path. The flowerbeds were filled with petunias and roses and other flowers and even what you could see of the small stable looked perfect. Short said, it was boring. If there was one thing James knew, it was that perfection was the most boring thing that existed. Imperfection on the other hand was interesting, and interesting often made real beauty.

The driver opened the door for them and James stepped out before offering his hand to Lily and helping her out. She gracefully lifted her skirts and stepped down outside the gates.  
The guard that stood there – one of the estate's only three guards since their hosts weren't that rich – immediately let them in since they looked both rich and important. He didn't look at them, just stood in attention as they passed. He had learned his lesson a while ago that you didn't look at important people, they would get angry and you would get in trouble.

As they reached the doors James lifted his hand and knocked thrice. _Knock knock knock_. After a minute or two the door opened and a maid in a uniform opened. Her eyes widened as she watched the riches on them, and even more when she recognized Lily.

" _Lily_?" she asked surprised and Lily smiled kindly at her.

"Hello, Mary." She replied to the maid that had been one of her few friends back here and that had helped her to escape. "This is James."

She gestured to her fiancé and James took Mary's hand, did a low bow and kissed it. Her eyes widened even more and she hurried to curtsy in front of the man who so obviously was at least extremely rich, probably nobility too.

"Pleasure, miss." James told her with a charming smile and Lily elbowed him, smirking.

"Don't make my friends fall for you." She teased. "You're _mine_."

James felt all warm when he heard it. It had been so hard to get her to accept his love and later, his proposal, but he knew it had been worth the effort it took to win her love.

"I'm yours." He agreed. "Just like _you_ are mine."

How wonderful it felt to be able to say it and know Lily wouldn't get mad. He turned back to the maid, Mary.

"Could you get your master and his wife, mademoiselle?" He asked her and she quickly nodded and disappeared into the house after inviting them into the foyer. The foyer was just as the outside. Perfectly boring.¨

After some minutes, of which James and Lily spent talking quietly, not wanting to ruin the surprise, footsteps were heard and soon three people stepped into the foyer. Mary, and a man, and a woman. The man looked a lot like a whale in a merchant's clothes, and the woman didn't look much better. She had a quite elegant dress (even if nothing like the quality of Lily's) that fit her good, but she had a horse-like face and her blonde hair seemed lifeless even though it was elegantly styled. Suddenly they seemed to see their visitors and first they smiled smarmy, but then they recognized the redhead.

"Lily" The woman said in shock. "What are you doing here, and dressed like that. And who's _he_?"

James and Lily both smiled sweetly.

"Hello, Petunia. It was a while ago, wasn't it?" Lily asked. "And Vernon. How nice to see you again. This, is my fiancé."

It was easy for James to see and hear how much Lily enjoyed this chance to get revenge toward those who treated her so horribly for years, and he enjoyed it almost just as much. After what Lily had told him about her life with Vernon and Petunia Dursley he loathed them. The Dursleys stared at them in shock, watching the expensive and highest quality clothes they had, and how everything of them screamed _RICH_. They maybe weren't poor, and actually were rich in comparison to many, but if you took everything the Dursleys had and placed it next to everything James' owned they would seem poorer than the poorest beggar out on the streets.

Petunia opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, apparently unable to get out a sound. After a while it was Vernon who spoke instead.

"Your fiancé?" he asked, voice full of disbelief. "Who would want to marry you?"

James felt a spark of anger when he heard how they spoke to the love of his life, but he smiled even sweeter and took a step forward.

"I would. It took a while for me to get her to agree to marry me, but now it's settled. I'd like to present myself, Vernon."

Dursley looked like he wanted to protest against James using his first name, but before he could open his mouth James stretched out his right hand and showed them his signet ring.

"My name is Prince James Charlus Fleamont of the Gryffindor Dynasty. I'm the count of Hogsmeade, marquis of Gryffindale and Whinging, duke of Godric's Hollow and heir to King Fleamont I and the throne of Gryffindor. With that, I'm also His Majesty King Quentin of Surrey's overlord, and of course also yours."

James had never enjoyed telling someone his titles that much. Usually he didn't tell people his titles except Prince of Gryffindor if he told them at all, but wow, this felt good. The looks on the Dursleys' faces was something he would've payed half of his future kingdom to see. They looked like they had swallowed a whole tree of unripe lemons.

They seemed to swallow another tree of lemons before they bowed down in a deep bow and curtsy. Mary curtsied too, but Lily placed her hand on her shoulder so she would rise. After a good while James told them to stand.

"Well, this has been a nice visit." He said. "Lils and I just wanted to invite you to our wedding and her coronation to a princess of Gryffindor."

Lily put a hand in her handbag and dragged up an envelope with the symbol of Gryffindor's royal house on it and gave it to Petunia who took it numbly.

"We expect you to be there." She told them. "After all, you can't miss your sister or sister-in-law's wedding, right?"

"We'll be there." Petunia promised, still sounding shocked or like she didn't know how to react. James' eyes widened and he turned to Dursley again.

"Oh, and we'll be taking Lily's other horse, Wildfire, with us." He told them and now he got a reaction.

"You can't do that! It belongs to me!" Dursley protested angrily. Lily's eyes glimmered angrily.

"Wildfire is a she, not an it!" she told him. James put his hand on her and his eyes told her calm down and wait. You'll get your revenge. Lily nodded shortly and waited for James to explain why they should take the horse, which he quickly did.

"Oh, I can. Gryffindor is supreme over Surrey, you know." He smirked. "The law states that I have the right as a member of Gryffindor's royal family to confiscate whatever I wish. Don't worry, Lily insisted that I would give you money for it, but remember that it's charity. I could've taken your house without giving you a penny."

He handed over a leather bag filled with some coins.

"This has been nice. We must leave, we have some diplomatic business to attend to." He offered his arm to Lily. "Shall we leave, love?"

Lily smiled and took the arm.

"We shall. It was nice to see you again, Petunia, Vernon. See you at the wedding!" She looked over at Mary.

"Mary, would you like to come with us? If you wanted you could work at the castle, maybe as my chambermaid? James says I'm going to need one, and that I want someone I trust."

Mary's eyes widened and she hurried to nod.

"I'd love to!"

Lily smiled happily.

"Great! Pack your things, and we'll send someone to fetch you tonight. See you then!"

When they left the house they sent the stable boy who had newly arrived at the address by James' order to catch Wildfire before stepping into the carriage again. As soon as the door was closed and they had dragged the curtains in front of the window they both burst out laughing, loudly. Tears of mirth fell out of their eyes and it took a good five minutes before they could talk again.

"Did you see their faces?" James asked happily. "Was it as good as you thought?"

Lily grinned and shook her head.

"Better. Much, much better. That was fantastic!"

James couldn't do other than agree. The whole way back to the castle they joked and laughed, mostly about the Dursleys but also other things. Just in the end of the journey they became a little more serious and discussed the wedding, but as soon as they reached Surrey's castle and walked to Lily's rooms, they began to laugh again.

After supper with the king and queen of Surrey and their children, James left Lily outside her chambers. After making sure no one was there, and could watch, he kissed her softly, and she responded happily. When they parted James just watched her for a moment before leaning forward and whispering in her ear:  
"Want to know a secret?"

When she nodded he smiled and whispered, even lower:

"I love you."

Lily laughed softly and ruffled his hair.

"I love you too, you bracket-faced thatch-gallow*."

James looked offended and pouted.

"I'll have you know I'm extremely handsome and obviously I do not have bad character or you wouldn't have agreed to marry me."

Lily shrugged.

"Maybe I did it for the money and power?" James' pout grew bigger and she giggled before kissing him. She caressed his cheek and he smiled.

"No, of course not." She agreed to his unspoken answer. "I love you too, my handsome fiancé with very good character."

"Better." James nodded before kissing her cheek. "See you tomorrow, love."

"See you tomorrow."

They smiled toward each other before James' held up the door for her and she left into her chambers and he left to go to his which weren't more than a hallway from here. The last thing he saw before he fell asleep that night was Lily's laughing face when she finally had gotten revenge on her 'family'.

* * *

 ***Bracket-faced = Insult from the 18th century that means ugly, hard-featured.**  
 ***Thatch-gallow[s] = also from the 18th century and means a rouge, a man of bad character.**

 **Woah. This actually got finished, although very carelessly. I am sorry about that, but I couldn't do it properly. It never would've been done.  
**

 **So... thank you for reading, for reviewing, and for your interest in it. I am very grateful.  
If you are interested in reading more by me (I'm a much better author now than I was when I wrote this), then you can find me at Tumblr as _Odderancyart_ or ArchieveOfOurOwn as _Odderancy_. I don't want to fill this account with non-Harry Potter-stories.  
**

 **On those accounts I mainly write Undertale, but I have an AO3 collection I'm trying to start with Original Stories ( _A World of Perspectives_ ). Although that one's going quite slowly. I also newly started a new story which is Undertale, but you might enjoy anyway because it's not exactly connected to the game except for the characters. It's a royalty/pirate AU as well, called **.

 **Again, I am very grateful for staying with me, and I'm sorry it took more than a year for it to get finished.**


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